Sexual abuse in the Church: at least 216,000 minors victims since 1950, according to the Sauvé report

Published on : 10/05/2021 – 09:57Modified : 05/10/2021 – 10:24

Overwhelming numbers. The Sauvé report estimates that 216,000 people over the age of 18 have been subjected to violence or sexual assault during their minority by clerics or Catholic religious in France from 1950 to 2020, according to its findings. made public Tuesday, October 5.

The number of victims climbs to “330,000 if we add lay aggressors working in institutions of the Catholic Church” (chaplaincies, teachers in Catholic schools, youth movements), added Jean-Marc Sauvé by making public before the press the conclusions of the commission he chairs, the independent commission on sexual abuse in the Church (Ciase).

A ratio of 2 500 pages

In its 2,500-page report prepared two and a half years ago and made public on Tuesday, based on the analysis of numerous documents and studies, the Ciase also mentions an assessment of the number of pedophiles in the Church over this period between 2 900 to 3,200, he said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“These numbers are much more than worrying, they are overwhelming and can in no way go unanswered,” commented Jean-Marc Sauvé.

“The victims are not believed”

The figures cited result from a statistical estimate including a margin of plus or minus 50,000 people, he said.

The Catholic Church manifested “until the beginning of the 2000s a deep indifference, and even cruel towards the victims” of pedocriminality, affirmed Jean-Marc Sauvé.

From 1950 to the 2000s, “the victims are not believed, heard, it is considered that they have more or less contributed to what happened to them”, he added, making public the conclusions of his work, before the episcopate, religious orders and officials of associations of victims.

With AFP