PARIS (FRANCE)
The Tablet [Market Harborough, England]
February 10, 2025
By Tom Heneghan
The Paris prosecutor’s office told the French bishops’ conference it would not conduct an official inquiry into the 33 sexual abuse allegations against Abbé Pierre, because he died in 2007. Possible charges for the failure to report his crimes had passed the statute of limitations.
“Public action was ruled out by the death of the accused in 2007 … and prescribed … concerned non-reporting of facts,” said the prosecutor’s letter to the bishops.
A statement from the conference, whose president Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims publicly requested an inquiry last month, said it regretted the decision and repeated its “determination to uncover as much as possible about the acts committed by Abbé Pierre”.
Abbé Pierre was voted most popular Frenchman 16 times during his life and was awarded the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour – France’s highest decoration – in 2001 for his campaigning work for the poor and homeless. His posthumous shame has been a body blow to the French Church, already badly hit by recurring reports of clerical sexual abuse.
The Abbé Pierre Foundation he founded has dropped his name and the Emmaus Movement of charity shops worldwide will no longer cite him as its inspiration.
Three recent reports by the equality counsellor Groupe Egaé have shredded the priest’s reputation, accusing him of repeated sexual abuse of women and boys who fell under his charm.
These and other reports have also exposed that his crimes were well known and covered up. The child protection group MOuv’Enfants called the prosecutor’s decision “scandalous” and spoke of “a system of organised omertà”.
MOuv’Enfants founder Arnaud Gallais said “justice authorities are hiding behind the statute of limitations” and thought some inquiry might still be possible if they opted for a “sliding prescription”.
“Only the justice system has the necessary means of investigation to allow the full truth to be revealed,” Moulins-Beaufort said when calling for an official inquiry.
But the prosecutor’s reply ruled this out, saying an inquiry into non-denunciation was meant to show whether further crimes by Abbé Pierre could be prevented. “This is obviously not the case when the latter is deceased,” it added.