The cardinal, speaking at a brief news conference in Lyon, said that he would once again offer his resignation to Pope Francis. The pope had rejected the cardinal’s offer to resign after the initial conviction but had let him step down from day-to-day duties at the church while the appeal ran its course. “This decision enables me to turn the page, and for the church in Lyon it is an opportunity to open a new chapter,” Cardinal Barbarin said. Prosecutors had dropped the charges against Cardinal Barbarin in 2016 after an investigation, but nine of Father Preynat’s accusers used a special procedure to force the cardinal and five other French church officials and employees of the diocese to stand trial. All five of them were acquitted in March.

Source: New York Times January 30, 2020 16:58 UTC