Sexual abuse by the French Catholic Church: The devil lives in a holy place

Illustration of the French Catholic Church: Xia Qing / GT

Authors cannot live with the truth; victims cannot live without it.

A 2,500-page report recently released by an independent commission on sexual abuse led by Jean-Marc Sauvé found that since 1950 some 216,000 children, mostly boys, have been sexually assaulted by French Catholic clergy. Considering abuses committed by lay members of the Church, such as teachers in Catholic schools, the number rises to 330,000.

What is behind this staggering number is that child sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church has become a systemic crime. Out of a total of 115,000 priests and other clerics, as many as 3,200 have sexually abused children, and that was probably an underestimate.

In France, the messengers of God are reduced to devils, and the sacred place has degenerated into a pervert club, nothing less.

To whitewash itself, the Church covered up the crimes. “There has been a whole bunch of neglect, shortcomings, silence and institutional cover-up,” Sauvé wrote in the report. The seal of confession in the Catholic Church is an easy excuse to dodge inspections and shirk responsibility. The guilty priests were lodged rather than punished. “A deep, total and even cruel indifference” is the only thing the French Catholic Church has shown to the victims.

As indifferent as the French Catholic Church is the French government. Despite all the recurring nightmares of the past 70 years, the French authorities have failed to intervene effectively in endemic pedophilia and sexual abuse in the Church. Not a single bill to regulate the Church has been passed in the French Parliament.

In contrast, France seems to have taken a tough stance towards Muslims in France. In February, French lawmakers passed a bill titled “Upholding Respect for the Principles of the Republic”, pressuring Muslims to accept France’s republican values, with the aim of stepping up surveillance of mosques. , schools and sports clubs to protect France from “radical Islamism”.

Since the French government has the capacity to oversee “radical Muslims,” why has it not taken significant steps to detect and stop the crimes of mass atrocities committed by the Church for decades?

The French government’s double standard on the two religions has exposed its hypocrisy and discrimination.

In a country where Catholic believers make up 60 percent of the population, many French politicians tend to scoff at Church scandals. So-called republican values ​​such as respect for human rights are just rhetoric for political purposes. For many French politicians, votes are much more expensive than human rights, and appeasing the Church and gaining its support is far more important than ending the suffering of child victims of sexual abuse.

With the inaction and connivance of the French authorities, appalling crimes are perpetually committed and tragedies keep repeating themselves in a county well known for its national motto Liberty, equality, fraternity and boasting of its status as a champion of rights. of man.

On this utterly shameful scandal, the French Catholic Church owes a debt to the victims, as does the French government.

French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to uncover the truth and to compensate the victims. The whole world is now looking at how France will be able to eliminate the gangrene inside her body and her psyche.

The author is a commentator on international affairs, writing regularly for Global Times, CGTN, China Daily, etc. He can be contacted at [email protected]