Jean-Paul André Denis Marcel James was born on 14 July 1952 in
Rennes. He studied at the Catholic schools of the Assumption and Saint-Vincent there. He earned a licentiate in economic sciences at the
Institut National de Sciences Economiques (INSEE) in Paris. In 1984 at the Saint-Yves major seminary of Rennes he obtained a bachelor's degree. He completed his studies in theology at the French Seminary in Rome and received a licentiate in canon law and a degree in moral theology at the
Pontifical Gregorian University. He was ordained a priest on 22 September 1985. His installation in Bordeaux took place on 26 January 2020. ==References==