Bishop of Metz
Archbishop Philippe Ballot was born on 2 October 1956 in Corbenay, Haute-Saône, in the metropolitan archdiocese of Besançon. He attended the minor seminaries of Luxeuil and Besançon, and carried out his studies in philosophy and theooogy at the interdiocesan seminary of Dijon. From 1976 to 1978 he provided international cooperation service as a teacher in the minor seminary of Bossangoa, in the Central African Republic, and subsequently studied civil law. In 1981 he began the second cycle of seminary studies in the interdiocesan seminary of Besançon, which he continued in the Pontifical French Seminary in Rome. He was awarded a licentiate in theology from the Pontifical Gregorian University in 1986. From 1986 to 1988 he attended courses in canon law at the Institut Catholique de Paris. He was ordained a priest on 29 June 1985 for the metropolitan archdiocese of Besançon, where he held the following roles: vicar of the parish of Saint-Pie X (1986-1991); chaplain of the Saint-Joseph and Sainte-Ursule colleges and the Saint-Paul high school (1988-1996); head of the Foyer-Séminaire de Jeunes de la Maîtrise (1991-1996); coordinator of the Val de la Dame Blanche pastoral complex in Châtillon (1996-2001); judge, adjunct judicial vicar (1988-1999) and judicial vicar (1999-2004) at the interdiocesan tribunal of Franche-Comté; adjunct leader of Catholic Teaching and head of pastoral animation (2001-2004); vicar general, diocesan delegate for religious life and ecclesial referent for the pastoral care of communication and the proclamation of the faith (2004-2009). On 14 January 2009 he was appointed archbishop of Chambéry and bishop of Saint-Jean-de Maurienne et Tarentaise. Within the Bishops’ Conference of France he is a member of the Council for Canonical Matters and the Episcopal Commission of the Mission de France.