ohn Paul meets with Gaillot

DISSIDENT FRENCH bishop Jacques Gaillot, who was removed from his See at Evreux in January, will meet the Pope at the Vatican today.
The move was hailed by the bishop's supporters as an important concession by the Vatican.
Speaking yesterday in Paris at the refuge for the homeless he helped make famous, Mgr
Gaillot said he was going to Rome to seek justice.
The bishop said he sought a "dialogue" with John Paul II, and hoped to leave "mistakes" in the past while "justifying" his position. As Bishop of Evreux for 13 years, the controversial bishop had refused to condemn birth control, said that abortion could be justified in certain cases, and in
the mid-1980s admitted he was homosexual. Thousands protested throughout France, Germany and Belgium when Bishop Gaillot was removed from his see earlier this year. Many of the bishop's supporters are now saying that their protest forced French Church leaders to make representations to the Vatican last week.
The Chairman of France's
Episcopal Council, Mgr Joseph Duval, and his deputy visited the Pope last week. They reported on their meeting with the Pope in a letter to their hierarchy, in which they wrote that John Paul II "listened for a long time to what he was told about the reaction of French Catholics... and had appealed to the faithful to pray for the Church and reflect."