The archbishop of Bordeaux succeeds the late Cardinal Louis-Marie Billé in the post. The cardinal was also head of the French episcopate.
The «Ecclesia Dei» panel was instituted on July 2, 1988, «whose task it will be to collaborate with the bishops, with the departments of the Roman Curia, and with the circles concerned, for the purpose of facilitating full ecclesial communion of priests, seminarians, religious communities or individuals until now linked in various ways to the Fraternity founded by Monsignor Lefebvre, who may wish to remain united to the Successor of Peter in the Catholic Church» (see the apostolic letter «Ecclesia Dei»).
The commission is presided over by Cardinal Darío Castrillón Hoyos. Other members include Cardinals Joseph Ratzinger and Jorge Arturo Medina Estévez, prefects of the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, and for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, respectively; and Archbishop Julián Herranz, president of the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legal Texts.
