Jean-Marc Aveline

Jean-Marc Noël Aveline (; born 26 December 1958) is a French Catholic prelate who has served as Archbishop of Marseille since 2019. He was previously an auxiliary bishop there from 2013 to 2019. Pope Francis made him a cardinal in 2022.

Aveline was named by several media outlets as papabile, meaning he was a possible candidate in the 2025 papal conclave.

Biography Jean-Marc Aveline was born on 26 December 1958 in Sidi Bel Abbes, in French Algeria. He was educated in Marseille at Lycée Victor-Hugo and then for two years at . He studied at the inter-diocesan seminary of Avignon from 1977 to 1979. He then joined the Carmes Seminary of Paris to study at the Catholic University of Paris where he earned a doctorate in theology in 2000. He also earned a licenciate in philosophy at the Sorbonne.

On 19 December 2013, Pope Francis named him Titular Bishop of Simidicca and Auxiliary Bishop of Marseille. He received his episcopal consecration on 26 January 2014 in the Marseille Cathedral from Georges Pontier, Archbishop of Marseille.

Within the Episcopal Conference of France he has headed the council for interreligious relations since 2017. He was installed there on 15 September. On 13 July 2022, Pope Francis named him a member of the Dicastery for Bishops. On 27 August 2022, Pope Francis made him a Cardinal-Priest, assigning him the title of Santa Maria ai Monti.

On 17 September 2024, Pope Francis appointed Aveline as the Holy See’s special envoy for the Archdiocese of Quebec’s 350th anniversary celebrations on September 20–22. On 23 October 2024, the Synod of Bishops elected Aveline a member of the Ordinary Council of the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.

In 2025, he was elected as the president of the Bishops' Conference of France, and succeeded Éric de Moulins-Beaufort. He was one of the cardinal electors that participated in the 2025 papal conclave that elected Robert Prevost as Pope Leo XIV. Several Vaticanists claimed that French President Emmanuel Macron "maneuvered" in order to promote and support Aveline's candidacy during the conclave.