Bishop Martin Laliberté has been appointed Bishop of Saint-Jean-Longueuil, succeeding Bishop Charles Hamelin, whose resignation was accepted by Pope Leo XIV July 11.
Laliberté had been serving as Coadjutor Bishop of the diocese at the time of his appointment.
The 61-year-old Laliberté has a long history as a missionary, first as a layman in Haiti for two years before joining the Quebec Foreign Mission Society, and then after his ordination to the priesthood in 1995. From 1996 to 2004 his pastoral ministry focused on missionary work in Brazil’s Amazon region, and upon his return to Canada, he became Vicar General of the Quebec Foreign Mission Society. He would become Superior General in 2013 and was elected to a second mandate in 2018.
Pope Francis would elevate Laliberté to Auxiliary Bishop of Quebec in 2019, and then Bishop of Trois-Rivieres in 2022 before his appointment earlier this year as Coadjutor Bishop in his current diocese.
The bishop is also Bishop ponens for the Canadian bishops’ Pontifical Missions Societies’ French sector and the bishops’ representative for the Quebec region on the national council of Development and Peace – Caritas Canada.
Hamelin, a priest since 1977, submitted his resignation upon turning 75. He has been a bishop in the diocese since 2016, first as an auxiliary before being named Bishop in 2019.
The Diocese of Saint-Jean-Longueuil has 43 parishes and missions serving a Catholic population of more than 462,000.
