Johan Bonny

Johan Jozef Bonny (born 10 July 1955) is a Belgian Catholic prelate who has served as Bishop of Antwerp since 2009.

Biography

Johan Bonny was born in Moere (Gistel) on 10 July 1955, the oldest of five children born to Gustaaf Bonny and Marie-Jeanne Lootens, farmers. He attended primary school in Eernegem and Moere, lower secondary school at the Onze-Lieve-Vrouw Gistel College and higher secondary education at Sint-Janscollege in . In 1973 he entered the Bruges seminary.

Priest On 20 July 1980, he was ordained priest by Emiel-Jozef De Smedt, Bishop of Bruges. Bonny helped found a l'Arche community in Moerkerke in presence of various religious and civil dignitaries, including Cardinal Walter Kasper and Archbishops Wim Eijk and André-Joseph Léonard.

In December 2014 Bonny called for Church recognition of gay relationships. He said: "There should be recognition of a diversity of forms. We have to look inside the Church for a formal recognition of the kind of interpersonal relationship that is also present in many gay couples. Just as there are a variety of legal frameworks for partners in civil society, one must arrive at a diversity of forms in the Church....The intrinsic values are more important to me than the institutional question. The Christian ethic is based on lasting relationships where exclusivity, loyalty, and care are central to each other." In September he wrote a letter in preparation for the Synod on the family that October. He stressed that the Church urgently needs to connect with contemporary society, showing more respect for homosexuality, divorced people and modern kinds of relationships.

In January 2015 he received an award from çavaria, the association of Flemish LGBT organisations, for his call for acceptance. Bonny however said the award was unnecessary.

Bonny had said that because Pope Francis did not voice specific opposition to the Flemish bishops' decision to bless same-sex unions, he has taken that as tacit approval. Bonny said he had "two conversations" with Francis from which he inferred he knew that the Flemish bishops were "not going against the Pope".

Bonny said Fiducia supplicans “helps us move forward.”

In March 2026 on the issue of priestly celibacy, Bonny stated that “The question is no longer whether the Church can ordain married men as priests, but when it will do so, and who will do it.” saying that he believes and is planning for his diocese to have married clergy by 2028.