In France, there were approximately 216,000 cases of sexual abuse of minors by representatives of the Catholic Church between 1950 and 2020. This was announced on Tuesday by an independent commission investigating child abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in France.
Photo: TASR / AP, Thomas Coex
Copies of a report on cases of child sexual abuse by representatives of the Catholic Church in France between 1950 and 2020, published by an independent commission, in Paris on 5 October 2021.
According to the AFP agency, the commission published the groundbreaking report after a 2.5-year investigation.
If victims of abuse over the past seven decades include victims of acts committed by lay members of the church, such as teachers in Catholic schools, the number will increase to 330,000.
“Until 2000, the Catholic Church was deeply and even cruelly indifferent to the victims,” commission chairman Jean-Marc Sauvé told a news conference.
Most cases cannot be prosecuted
Sauvé called on the church to compensate the victims of these acts financially, although most cases related to alleged crimes can no longer be prosecuted.
The commission’s report, which has almost 2,500 pages, states that the “vast majority” of the victims were boys from a wide range of social backgrounds.
“After the family and the circle of friends, the Catholic Church is the environment in which sexual violence is most prevalent,” the report said.
In an interview published in the Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday, Sauvé previously said that 3,000 people who had abused children had worked in church councils over the past 70 years. Two thirds of them were priests.
The pope was deeply saddened by the news
On Tuesday, Pope Francis expressed deep grief over the suffering of victims of sexual abuse committed by Catholic clergy in France over the decades. The AFP news agency reported, referring to a Vatican spokesman.
According to spokesman Matteo Bruni, the pope responded “with pain” to the published “scary” findings. “His thoughts are the first to address the victims – with deep sorrow at their injuries and thanks for their courage to speak out,” Bruni said in a statement.
He added that the pope also thinks “of the church in France, which, after realizing this terrifying reality, can embark on the path of redemption.” The Pope therefore prays for all believers in France and, above all, for the victims of abuse, that God may provide them with relief and comfort and, together with righteousness, a miracle of healing.
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