FRANCE
7 News
by Julie Ducourau with Benoit Fauchet in Paris – AFP on April 7, 2017
Dax (France) (AFP) – A French bishop resigned Thursday over “inappropriate behaviour” towards youths after a rare initiative by the Vatican just weeks after complaints came to the attention of his diocese.
Herve Gaschignard, 57, bishop of the southwest diocese of Dax, tendered his resignation at the suggestion of the Vatican’s envoy to France, Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the French Catholic Church said in a statement. …
Gaschignard’s deputy Denis Cazeaux said at a news conference that three young people had come forward with allegations, but “it is not about paedophile acts.”
A 14-year-old boy said the bishop asked him about his sexual habits, while a girl, also aged 14, said he had stroked her thigh, kissed her on the cheek, and whispered “a lot of inappropriate things” to her.
The Catholic daily La Croix reported that Gaschignard raised concerns in 2011 in nearby Toulouse where he was auxiliary bishop with duties that included instructing young people.
Four chaperones on a youth pilgrimage trip wrote to Toulouse Archbishop Robert Le Gall expressing alarm over Gaschignard’s behaviour.
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