Gilles Wach

Gilles Wach (born Troyes, 26 November 1956) is a French Roman Catholic priest, co-founder and Prior General of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, a Traditionalist Society of Apostolic Life.

Eccclesiastical career

After finishing secondary school, he entered the seminary of Paray-le-Monial, where he did an year of formation. He moved to the seminary of the Diocese of Gênes, where he met Philippe Mora, who would be his friend and co-founder of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest. He was ordained a deacon by Cardinal Giuseppe Siri on 29 June 1978, and a priest by Pope John Paul II, on 24 June 1979, among other 24 deacons, including his friend Philippe Mora. He pursued his studies in Rome, achieving a doctorate in Theology at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas, with his thesis on St. Francis of Sales, Pédagogie de l'amour. L'éducation de la charité chez saint Francois. During this time, he worked with Cardinal Silvio Oddi, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy. He joined the Traditionalist Opus Sacerdotale, a priestly association led by Abbé Pierre Lourdelet, at the late 1980s, and he played an important role in the foundation of the Opus Sacerdotale in Moissac.

Wach was nominated Vicar General of the Diocese of Mouila, in Gabon, on 19 June 1989, by Msgr. Cyriaque Obamba, which he was until 1995. He became Vicar General emeritus on 15 August 1996, receiving the title of Monsignor.

He founded the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest in 1990, with Philippe Mora, a society of apostolic life, who became of pontifical right, in 2008. The ICKSP celebrates exclusively the extraordinary form of the roman rite. He was Prior General of the ICKSP since his inception until 2008, when he was elected for a six years term. He would be reelected for another six years term in November 2014.