Norbert Brunner (bishop)

Brunner was born 1942 in Naters, Valais. He studied at the University of Innsbruck, Austria, and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood on July 6, 1968.

His resignation as Bishop of Sion was accepted, in accordance with Canon 401.2 of the 1983 Latin rite Code of Canon Law, by Pope Francis on Tuesday, July 8th, 2014, and that same day, Pope Francis named the Right Reverend Abbot Jean-Marie Lovey c.r.b, then the Provost (Superior General) of the Congregation of Canons Regular of St. Bernard the Great, as Brunner's successor.^[1]

In November 2009, he declared that he was in favor of the ordination of married priests, and that most Swiss Bishops shared his view.^[2]

During a Synod, Bishop Brunner insisted that the measures taken at Vatican II to promote collegiality still had not found their objective. Once again, he said with preoccupation, "what value do the pastoral needs of the local churches have for the Roman Curia?"^[3][4]

Brunner wrote about the canonical situation of the Society of St. Pius X and concluded that the 1988 consecrations were valid but illicit, in the sense that Lefebvre did consecrate bishops but that these consecrations were against existing canonical norms.^[5]