PARIS (FRANCE)
The Tablet [Market Harborough, England]
January 21, 2025
By Tom Heneghan
“The Church opened its archives and Emmäus set up a historical commission, but only the justice system has the necessary means of investigation to allow the full truth to be revealed.”
The president of the French bishops’ conference appealed to the Paris prosecutor to open an official inquiry into the sexual abuse allegations against the late Abbé Pierre, long considered the merciful face of the Church in France.
A third report by his foundations published on 13 January mentioned nine further accusations against Abbé Pierre, who died in 2007, bringing the total against him to 33.
In its initial response, the bishops’ conference said: “The accumulation of facts now known that were perpetrated by this priest, who was so admired, is horrific.”
Four days later, conference president Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort of Reims called for a public inquiry into Abbé Pierre “for non-denunciation of rapes and sexual assaults on vulnerable people and minors”.
“The Church opened its archives last September and Emmäus set up a historical commission of inquiry, but only the justice system has the necessary means of investigation to allow the full truth to be revealed,” he said on 17 January.
The Emmäus movement is a group of French and international societies meant to continue Abbé Pierre’s decades-long militant work for the poor and homeless.
The archbishop said he hoped a public inquiry could “determine the conditions under which the facts mentioned could not have been reported to the courts during all these years”.
Apart from the nine abuse cases it described, the latest report by equality counsellor Groupe Egaé spoke of several other incidents which either it could not confirm or the alleged victim did not want to be published.
It said research into the scandal would continue. Moulins-Beaufort urged any further victims to report their cases to listening groups set up by the Church or Groupe Egaé.
Legal experts said a public inquiry had little chance of leading to a criminal conviction since the priest is dead and his acts seemed largely beyond the statute of limitations.
An official investigation could, however, bring other facts to light that could allow victims to bring civil charges and possibly win financial compensation.