Father Matthieu Jasseron, who had built a solid reputation on social media, garnering views and more than 1.2 million subscribers on Tiktok, announced that he had left the Church.
Dressed in a sweater decorated with a white cross, the priest revealed in December 2023 that he was putting the brakes on his career as an influencer in a video of just over a minute published on social networks. He then stated that he wanted to “go to sleep every night with a peaceful heart” and that “it is not our role to do all that.”
A change in a context of criticism of the Catholic Church
At 39 years old, the young priest, who served in Joigny, decided to make faith his profession in 2019, after years working in the world of tax engineering. But according to Libération, Matthieu Jasseron could have been forced to stop his adventure on Tiktok after several failures that would not have pleased the Catholic Church.
When he stated on Tiktok in August 2021 that “homosexuality is not a sin,” it generated controversy and was denied by a press release accusing him of “distorting the message of the Gospel” through his videos.
The newspaper states above all that Father Matthieu Jasseron was pressured by traditional and fundamentalist circles. They are the ones who accused the man of the Church of having indirectly violated the seal of confession in his book “The Stories of the Heart of a Young Priest”, published by Flammarion, and in which he returned to career anecdotes by having changed identities. of the confessors.
Today, on YouTube, he says he wants to make “a confession” in front of the camera. He says he went through a “period of doubt” questioning his faith and beliefs. Although he reaffirms not having been pressured, he nevertheless says that he cannot respect “the doctrines” of the Church and questions the ecclesiastical response after certain scandals, related in particular to cases of pedophilia and the lack of transparency that derives from it.
If he doesn’t describe himself as “Julien Assange” and is “just a normal guy,” he wants to believe in the Christian community, even though he is no longer a priest. He will not return to social networks.
Source: BFM TV
