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Cancer claims Cardinal Billé
Primate of the Gauls
Cardinal Louis-Marie Billé of Lyon died in March at the age of 64.

The cardinal, who was the former president of the French bishops’ conference, had been struggling for months with colon cancer. He had resigned from his position as head of the episcopal conference last October because of his deteriorating health, but remained Archbishop of Lyon. Although Cardinal Billé had indicated that he hoped to celebrate Easter with the people of his archdiocese, officials in Lyon had issued a statement on March 9 admitting their “grave concern” about his decline. He died three days later.

Born near Orléans, Louis-Marie Billé attended a seminary in Luçon, and—after interrupting his studies for military service in Algeria—was ordained in the Luçon diocese in 1962. He became a Scripture scholar, studying in Jerusalem and Rome, and was a seminary instructor before being named Bishop of Laval in 1984. He then became Archbishop of Aix-en-Provence in 1995, and Archbishop of Lyon—with the title “Primate of the Gauls”—in 1998. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals in February 2001.