About François-Marie Léthel

Reverend Professor François-Marie Lethel was born in Paris in 1948 and entered the Order of Discalced Carmelites in 1967. He was ordained priest in 1975. After completing his Licentiate in Philosophy, he obtained a Licentiate in Theology from the Institut Catholique de Paris, presenting a thesis on St. Maximus the Confessor, under the direction of Fr. Marie-Joseph Le Guillou, OP. He then obtained his Doctorate in Theology from the University of Friburg (Switzerland) in 1989, under the direction of Fr. Christoph Schönborn, OP.

Since 1982, he lives in Rome and teaches Dogmatic and Spiritual Theology at the Teresianum. He was appointed Consultant to the Congregation for the Cause of Saints by Pope John Paul II in 2004, and Secretary to the Pontifical Academy of Theology by Pope Benedict XVI in 2008. Among his many works are those on the theology of the saints, including the Lenten spiritual exercises he was asked to preach to Pope Benedict in 2011, called "The Light of Christ in the Heart of the Church: John Paul II and the Theology of the Saints", subsequently collected by the Vatican Publishing House.