Idol of "traditional" circles now in the sights of Rome, the prelate at the head of the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon is increasingly criticized for his erratic governance and his uninhibited proximity to the far right. The end of twenty years of complacency?
Smooth skull and emaciated face, Dominique Rey often wears a slightly worrying half-smile. At least for those who don't know him. Those who frequent him readily admit that he is rather “cool” in appearance, generally receiving the unbuttoned Roman collar, in flip-flops and white socks. But if the irremovable bishop of the Var were a movie character, he would be more embodied in Nosferatu than in a good-natured policeman of Saint-Tropez. Marked by strong ties with the Catholic far right and traditionalist circles, Dominique Rey, 70, does not make anyone laugh. So many excesses have accumulated in his diocese, so much his governance is, in the opinion of all including his friends, erratic, ordering seminarians who have often failed in …More