Death of Monsignor Bernard Barsi, Archbishop Emeritus of Monaco

The Princely Couple and the Government of Monaco reacted with sadness to the news. 

Archbishop Bernard Barsi died on Wednesday in Nice, after suffering a heart attack on Christmas Eve. The 80-year-old Archbishop Emeritus had retired in 2020. The Prince’s Palace announced his death in an official dispatch.

“Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene have learned with deep sadness and emotion of the sudden death of Monsignor Bernard Barsi, Archbishop Emeritus of Monaco. A native of Nice with strong ties to Menton, Monsignor Barsi was known and loved in the region, having served in several parishes before being appointed Archbishop of Monaco by Pope John Paul II. In this time of sorrow, the Prince and Princess wish to honour the memory of the man who, for more than twenty years, provided the Sovereign Family with spiritual and pastoral guidance, in the most significant moments of the Principality’s recent history.

Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene, on their own behalf and on that of the people of Monaco, offer their prayers and deepest condolences to Monsignor Bernard Barsi’s family as well as to the clergy and laypeople who were dear to him.”

The Government of Monaco also conveys “its most sincere condolences to his family, as well as to the members of the Monaco Diocese and to the Principality’s Catholic community”.