Pope Francis appoints new Bishop in Seychelles

By Vatican News

Until now Bishop Harel has been Apostolic Administrator of Rodrigues, Mauritius.

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Bishop Denis Wiehe, C.S.Sp who has been Bishop of Port Victoria since 2002.

Biography

Bishop Alain Harel, was born on June 24, 1950, in Quatre-Bornes, Mauritius. He comes from a Franco-Mauritian family of five children and attended elementary school at the Lorette de Quatre-Bornes convent before beginning secondary school at the Collège du Saint-Esprit.

He became a seminarian in Angers and Nantes at the age of twenty, where he studied philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest on September 3, 1978, for the diocese of Port-Louis.

Bishop Harel became vicar of the Basilica of Saint Helena in Curepipe, Mauritius before directing the Centre for Vocations and Formation of Future Seminarians. He was appointed parish priest of the Sacred Heart parish of Saint-Gabriel, Rodrigues in 1991 becoming episcopal vicar in 1994.

After working at the parish of the Holy Spirit in Bel-Air Rivière Sèche in 2000, he was named titular bishop of Forconio and apostolic vicar of Rodrigues. He was consecrated on December 8, 2002, by Cardinal Jean Margéot, assisted by Bishop Maurice Piat, Bishop of Port-Louis, and Bishop Robert Sarah, Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. Rodrigues has a population of 38,714 of which 91.3% are Catholic. There are 5 parishes, with 3 priests and 13 lay religious.

Bishop Harel is a member of the Conference of Bishops of the Indian Ocean (CEDOI).

There are around 70,000 Catholics in the Seychelles - almost 76.2% of the total population.