Pederasty in the Catholic Church of France: 330,000 sexual abuse in 70 years

The catholic church of France It has hosted at least 330,000 cases of abuse or sexual violence against minors or vulnerable people since 1950, according to an independent commission that has investigated this phenomenon in the last three years and has identified between 2,900 and 3,200 religious pedophiles.

Through hundreds of interviews with victims and the analysis of the ecclesiastical archives of the different dioceses of the country, a bleak panorama has emerged for the Catholic Church, “much higher than expected”, as recognized by the president of the French Episcopal Conference, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort.

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But his institution was in the focus of the report, accused of having looked the other way, of not taking alarm signals seriously, and of trying to cover up pedophile clerics, according to the chairman of the commission, Jean-Marc Sauvé.

The latter accused the Catholic Church of “negligence” and of not heeding the warning signs launched for years by the victims.

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According to their report, 216,000 victims of sexual abuse or assault by clergy have been identified, while the rest, up to 330,000, were the work of lay people working in religious fields.

Unlike what happens with abuses in the rest of society, where girls are the majority victims, in the case of the church 80% are boys between 10 and 13 years old, said Sauvé.

The ratio of religious aggressors is around 2.8%, lower than that of other countries that have investigated the phenomenon, such as the 4.4% registered in Germany or 7% in the United States.

The chairman of the independent commission of inquiry into the sexual abuse of minors committed within the Catholic Church, Jean-Marc Sauve, poses during a photo session in Paris. (JOEL SAGET / AFP).

“MASSIVE” PHENOMENON

The president of the commission spoke of a “massive” phenomenon, acknowledged that both the victims and the aggressors identified are “a minimum” and appealed to the church to “apologize” and compensate people who, for the most part, have problems ” important ”of sexual and psychological behavior.

The president of the French bishops expressed his “shame” for some facts that “because of their character is shocking and because of their number it overwhelms.”

But Moulins-Beaufort tiptoed over the issue of compensation, which is the main claim of victims’ associations, which accuse the church of looking the other way in this matter after years of doing so with the reported cases.

This was expressed by the president of the association The Liberated Word, François Devaux, at the origin of the revelation of numerous cases in Lyon that put the archbishop of that important diocese, former cardinal Philippe Barbarin, on the dock in 2018, which led the Episcopal Conference to create this independent commission.

“FETTI STRATEGY”

“You must pay for all these crimes”, Devaux launched before a handful of bishops and the papal nuncio in France, who had to hear from the mouth of this victim of abuse in his childhood that Pope Francis “is absent” and that the French church is hiding in “a fetid strategy” compensation to victims.

The 485 pages of the report reflect a “terrifying” panorama, in the words of Sauvé, who pointed out that these acts are not just a thing of the past: “Sexual violence in the church has not been eradicated.”

If 56% of the cases identified occurred between 1950 and 1969, the fall recorded in the 70s, 80s and 90s (22%) has stopped so far this century.

Safe attributed this drop to a lower attendance of the French to Catholic areas and not to the actions of the church, which only after the appearance of media scandals began to take measures to combat pedophilia.

Until then, he denounced, there was “a deep and total indifference, even cruel, with the victims”, because all his efforts were directed to “protect the institution” and “keep the clergy in the priesthood.”

Among the recommendations of the commission is to review the confidentiality of confession so that it cannot be applied in the event of the commission of crimes, to introduce lay people in the governing bodies of the church to prevent the religious from accumulating all power, to adapt the formation of priests or review sexual morality, now considered a taboo within the institution.

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