FRANCE
Le Croix
Loup Besmond de Senneville
In addition to celebrating mass on Holy Wednesday in Lyon on 12 April, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin spoke at length on the situation of Father David Gréa, the emblematic priest of the Saint Blandine parish in central Lyon who had announced a few weeks ago that he wished to get married.
Archbishop Barbarin also addressed matters related to pedophilia.Both issues were discussed for the first time in a letter addressed to all the priests in the diocese.Regarding the situation of Fr Gréa, Cardinal Barbarin said he regretted that Gréa “did not take the time to think things over as [he] had asked him to do”.
The priest has, in fact, announced his intention to get married in a civil ceremony on Saturday the 15th of April, on the same day that the church will be celebrating Holy Saturday. …
The Cardinal defends himself
In addition to the Gréa case, Cardinal Barbarin also spoke on the importance of fighting pedophilia in the diocese.
Three weeks previously the TV station France 2 aired an episode of Cash Investigation in which it was reported that many bishops, including Cardinal Barbarin, had shielded priests accused of pedophilia.
Among other things, the France 2 journalists had gone to meet a priest convicted by a court but still serving in a parish in Lyon.
In the book Church, the mechanics of silence the reporters from Mediapart wrote extensively on many cases covered for years by the Catholic hierarchy in Lyon.
“Today, no priest identified as the perpetrator of a single abuse of a minor would exercise any ministry in the parish,” said the Cardinal. “All the facts reported by the press are known to the law. The families must be able to have faith in the church.”
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