Léonard says he wants to retire

Brussels Archbishop André-Joseph Léonard, head of the country’s bishops’ conference, set off speculation about his successor by telling an interviewer he wanted to step down when he turns 75 next May, writes Tom Heneghan. Attention  turned to Antwerp’s Bishop Johan Bonny, seen to be more in line with Pope Francis than the outspoken conservative Léonard.

Before October’s synod of bishops, Bonny, 59, published a long letter arguing that there was a gap between church moral teaching and “the moral insights of the faithful”. He urged bishops to bring doctrines more in line with lived experience of the laity.