Teissier was born in
Lyon and ordained as
priest by
Diocese of Algiers on 24 May 1955. On 30 November 1972, aged 43, he was appointed by
Pope Paul VI Bishop of
Oran. He received episcopal consecration on 2 February 1973. On 20 December 1980 he was appointed coadjutor to the archbishop
Cardinal Duval in Algiers. In 1988, Cardinal Duval withdrew and Teissier became
Archbishop of
Algiers. He had been living in
Algeria since 1948 and obtained Algerian citizenship in 1966. Tessier was a member of the Secretariat for relations with non-Christians (1971), as Vice-President of the
Arab Caritas International for the country (1975–1987) he was a Muslim-Christian at various symposia and conferences of the two Christians in Palestine involved. Teissier was President of the
Conference of Bishops of North Africa from 1982 to 2004. He is regarded as one of the authoritative representatives of
ecumenism between
Christianity and
Islam. He remained firm in this position despite
19 murders of non-Muslim religious people which occurred between 1994 and 1996. During this period
Pierre Claverie, the Bishop of the
Roman Catholic Diocese of Oran, was killed and the
assassination of the monks of Tibhirine took place. When
John Paul II named two cardinals
in pectore in 1998,
Margaret Hebblethwaite suspected Teissier might have been one of those, saying that Other sources, though, never believed either of the cardinals to be Teissier, and in 2001 it would be revealed he was not one of them. In 2008 he was appointed a knight of the
Legion of Honor for his many honorable and peaceful works. Teissier was nominated on 23 September 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI as a member of the Second Special Assembly of the
synod for Africa.
Awards • Knight of the
Legion of Honor (July 2007) ==Publications==