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Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, one of the highest-ranking prelates of the Catholic Church in France, said Monday that 35 years ago he sexually abused a 14-year-old girl and announced his retirement from religious duties. After that confession, the French justice opened an investigation, the Marseille prosecutor’s office said Tuesday.
“A preliminary investigation was opened to verify the elements of this ‘revelation’”Marseille prosecutor Dominique Laurens told AFP, specifying that “no complaint” had been filed at the moment.
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the cardinal Jean Pierre Ricardretired since 2019 in southeastern Francecaused a new earthquake in the French Church, a year after a report was released that estimated that there were some 216,000 minor victims of abuse by priests and religious between 1950 and 2020.
In a letter read Monday by the president of the French Episcopal Conference, Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, The former bishop of Bordeaux confessed that he behaved “reprehensibly with a 14-year-old girl” 35 years ago, when he was a parish priest in Marseille.
“My behavior necessarily caused serious and lasting consequences for this person”wrote the 78-year-old cardinal, who said that he made himself available to justice, both civil and canonical, and that he asked the victim for “forgiveness”.
Although the facts seem prescribed, the justice initiated a preliminary investigation, a first step in order to determine if a criminal proceeding can be opened.
The diocese of Marseille published a statement on Monday indicating that these events were already being “instructed” by the Church, pointing out the “pain and pain” they caused.
Ricard, 78, used to be archbishop of Bordeaux, in southwestern France, until he retired from that post in 2019 to serve in his home diocese of Dignes-les-Bains in the south of the country. In the 1980s, he was a priest in the Archdiocese of Marseille.
Jean Pierre Ricard He said he spoke to the victim and apologized, without specifying when. He added that she was also apologizing “to everyone I hurt” through her statement. She did not offer any further details about it.
In the context of its annual meeting in Lourdes (south), Moulins-Beaufort assured that 11 bishops and ex-bishops faced accusations before the civil or canonical justice for sexual assault or for not denouncing these facts, among them Ricard.
Source: Elcomercio
I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.
