A senior French Catholic clergyman has admitted sexually abusing a 14-year-old lady when he was a parish priest within the Eighties.
Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, who was the Bishop of Coutances, Montpellier and Bordeaux from 2001-2019, confessed in a press release which was learn Monday on the French Bishops' Convention in Lourdes.
"Thirty-five years in the past, once I was a parish priest, I behaved in a reprehensible method with a 14-year-old lady. My behaviour essentially brought about critical and lasting penalties for this individual," the cardinal wrote.
"I've determined to position myself on the disposal of justice each in society and within the Church," he added, saying he had requested the sufferer for "forgiveness".
The confession by 78-year-old Cardinal Ricard, who retired in October 2019, got here as a "shock" to the 120 bishops who've been assembly within the French metropolis since final Thursday, based on the bishop main the convention.
Bishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort additionally revealed a listing of different Catholic Church clergy in France who have been implicated in intercourse abuse circumstances.
These embrace the case of Bishop Michel Santier who was sanctioned by the Vatican in 2021 for "religious abuse resulting in voyeurism on two grownup males;" and two different retired bishops who "at the moment are being investigated by our nation's justice system," stated Monseigneur de Moulins-Beaufort.
In complete ten former French bishops have been implicated just lately in scandals, together with eight underneath investigation for abuse, and two for not reporting allegations.
Olivier Savignac, from the victims' help group Parler et revivre, stated he was "shaken by the revelations".
"There are numerous hidden issues. What number of extra will come out? The Church solely reacts as soon as it's up in opposition to the wall," he instructed AFP information company.
The newest admissions come simply over a 12 months after the publication ofa surprising report by the Sauvé Fee on the extent of intercourse abuse within the French Church since 1950.
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