Pope appoints new secretary of Congregation for the Clergy
January 08, 2015
Pope Francis has appointed Msgr. Joël Mercier, a French priest, as the new secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy and has elevated him to the dignity of an archbishop.
Born in 1945, the prelate studied classics at the Sorbonne and was ordained to the priesthood in 1970. He subsequently earned a doctorate in canon law and returned to his French diocese until 2002, when he was became a staff member of the Congregation for Bishops.
Since 2007, Msgr. Mercier has also served as spiritual director of the Pontifical French Seminary in Rome.
Msgr. Mercier’s predecessor as the no. 2 official at the Congregation was Archbishop Celso Morga Iruzubieta; in October 2014, the Pope named him Coadjutor Archbishop of Mérida-Badajoz, Spain. Since October 2013, the Congregation has been led by Cardinal Beniamino Stella.
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