Paris archbishop offers to resign after reports on private life

PARIS: The Archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, has offered his resignation to Pope Francis due to his "ambiguous behaviour" with a woman, his diocese announced on Friday. Aupetit wrote to the pope this week offering to step down following an investigation by Le Point magazine earlier this month, a diocese spokeswoman said.

"He had ambiguous behaviour with a person he was very close to," the spokeswoman said, adding that it was "not a loving relationship", nor sexual. The offer to resign was "not a confession of guilt, but a humble gesture, an offer of dialogue," she added. Catholic priests are bound to celibacy under church doctrine and are meant to practice sexual abstinence.