How Catholic Bishops Sexually Abused Over 200,000 Children In France – Report

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A major investigation found that French clergy had sexually abused more than 200,000 children over the past 70 years, adding that the Catholic Church had turned a blind eye to the “scourge” for too long.

In a Reuters report, Jean-Marc Sauvé, the commission’s head, said the church had shown “deep, utter and even cruel indifference for years”, protecting itself rather than the victims of what were systemic abuses.



He said most of the victims were boys, many of whom were between 10 and 13 years old.

The report says: “In the face of this scourge, for a very long time the immediate reaction of the Catholic Church has been to protect itself as an institution and it has shown total, even cruel, indifference towards those who have suffered. abuses.

The revelations showed that the problem in France was more widespread than previously thought and were the latest to rock the Roman Catholic Church, after a series of sexual abuse scandals around the world, often involving children.

Pope Francis expressed his gratitude to the victims for having had the courage to come forward.

A Vatican statement said: “First of all, his thoughts are with the victims, with great sadness, for their injuries.

“(Her thoughts are with) the Church of France, so that, aware of this terrible reality … she may embark on the path of redemption.”

The commission that conducted the investigation was created by the Catholic bishops of France at the end of 2018 to shed light on the abuses and restore public confidence in the church at a time of shrinking congregations. It operated independently of the church.

Sauve added that the problem was still there. He added that the church had until the 2000s shown complete indifference to the victims and that it did not begin to really change its attitude until 2015-2016.

According to him, the teaching of the Catholic Church on subjects such as sexuality, obedience and the sanctity of the priesthood has helped to create blind spots that have allowed sexual abuse by the clergy, adding that the The Church needed to reform the way it approached these issues to restore confidence. with society.

The church must take responsibility for what happened, the commission said, and ensure that reports of abuse are passed on to judicial authorities.

It must also provide victims with adequate financial compensation, “which, although insufficient (to remedy the trauma of sexual abuse), is nonetheless essential because it completes the process of recognition”.

The peak of abuse was from 1950 to 1970, the commission said in its report, with cases apparent resurgence in the early 1990s.

Many cases are covered by the statute of limitations, but state prosecutors have been alerted to more recent cases and the commission stressed that the church should provide compensation regardless of when an offense was committed.

The French findings come a year after Britain said the Catholic Church received more than 900 complaints about more than 3,000 cases of child sexual abuse in England and Wales between 1970 and 2015, and that there had been over 100 reported allegations per year since 2016.

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