France's Catholic Church has revealed that 11 former or serving bishops have been accused of sexual violence or failing to report cases of abuse. Among them, a cardinal who confessed to assaulting a girl in the 1980s and who now faces an inquiry by prosecutors in Marseille.
Jean-Pierre Ricard, a retired bishop who was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2016, was named among 11 senior clergymen who face sexual abuse allegations in an announcement by the French Catholic church on Monday.
The president of the Bishops' Conference of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, told reporters that some of high-ranking church officials faced criminal prosecution, or a church tribunal, or both.
In a message read out at a meeting of bishops in Lourdes, Ricard admitted that "35 years ago, when I was a priest, I behaved in a reprehensible way towards a girl of 14. There is no doubt that my behaviour caused serious and long-lasting consequences for that person."
The most serious sexual offences in France such as rape usually have a statute of limitations of 30 years, but the period to bring charges can be extended if the victim was a minor at the time of the offence.
The maximum period for charges for sexual abuse of a minor is usually 20 years from the date at which the victim turns 18.
"A preliminary enquiry has been started to verify the facts of this revelation," prosecutor Dominique Laurens told AFP in Marseille where Ricard said the abuse took place.
Shockwaves
The public confession by 78-year-old Ricard was received "like a shock" by the bishops, de Moulins-Beaufort said.
Ricard was bishop in Coutances, Montpellier and finally Bordeaux between 2001 and 2019. He retired as bishop of Bordeaux in 2019 but he remains a cardinal, a position usually held for life.
He is expected to tender his resignation to the pope.
Another 10 bishops, either retired or still serving, face sexual abuse allegations, de Moulins-Beaufort said.
Among them, Michel Santier, former bishop of the Paris suburb of Créteil, who was already sanctioned by the Vatican for "voyeurism involving two adult men".
Commenting on Santier's case, Moulins-Beaufort admitted that there had been "serious shortcomings and failures at every level".
Two retired bishops are being investigated by the French judiciary, and are also the target of a church procedure.
The name of one other bishop had been flagged to the authorities, but prosecutors had not yet responded, while the Vatican had curtailed his duties.
One bishop, Andre Fort, was sentenced in 2018 to a suspended prison sentence of eight months.
Great sadness
Olivier Savignac, of the Parler et Revivre association which supports victims of sexual violence, told the AFP news agency he was "shaken" by Monday's revelations concerning a "dizzying" number of bishops.
"So many things are hidden. How many more will emerge?" he asked.
Savignac added: "The church only ever reacts when its back is to the wall."
Another association, Agir Pour Notre Eglise, which advocates church reform in the face of the accusations, urged the the bishops to come up with "clear announcements" by the close of their meeting on Tuesday.
"It is with great sadness that we learn of all this," Alix Huon, a member of the association told AFP.
The church was rocked last year by the findings of an inquiry that confirmed widespread abuse of minors by priests, deacons and lay members of the Church dating from the 1950s.
It found that 216,000 minors had been abused by clergy over the past seven decades, a number that climbed to 330,000 when claims against lay members of the Church are included, such as teachers at Catholic schools.
The commission that produced the report denounced the "systemic character" of efforts to shield clergy from prosecution, and urged the Church to pay compensation to victims.
(With AFP)
