Pope Francis has described the priest Abbé Pierre, who was revered as a saint in France for his fight against poverty, misery and exclusion with the Emmaus organisation he founded, as a “terrible sinner”. On the flight back from his trip to Asia, the Pope spoke to journalists for the first time about the case that has shaken France. The priest, who died in 2007, is said to have sexually assaulted women and sexually abused children until he was very old. The cases of sexual violence range from the early 1950s to 2005.
#Abbé #Pierre #Vatican #knew #abuse #cases