OTTAWA - In pursuit of a secular state, Quebec is wrong to limit religious freedom, said the president of Quebec’s assembly of bishops after the province tabled a controversial bill that will bar many provincial employees from wearing religious clothing and symbols on the job.

Bishop Noël Simard will return to his native Quebec to lead the Valleyfield diocese.

On Dec. 29, Pope Benedict XVI appointed the former professor of bioethics and moral theology to the Valleyfield diocese where he will be installed in mid-February.