France, shock report on abuse in the Church: 216,000 victims of pedophile priests in 70 years
In France, 216,000 children have been abused by priests over the past 70 years. This was stated in a report on pedophilia within the French Church presented today, according to which from 1950 to 2020 the number of pedophile priests was between 2,900 and 3,200.
Jean-Marc Sauvé, chairman of the commission that drafted the report, said the abuses were systemic and that the Church has shown “profound, total and even cruel indifference for years”, choosing to protect herself rather than the victims. Sauvé, former member of the Council of State and of the EU Court of Justice before presiding over the Ciase, the Commission on sexual abuse in the Church established by the French bishops in 2018, accused the Church of not having taken the necessary measures to prevent abuse, not to have reported them and to have in some cases knowingly put children in contact with pedophiles.
According to Sauvé, the number of victims of abuse rises from 216,000 to 330,000 “if we add the lay aggressors who worked in the institutions of the Catholic Church”, such as sacristans, teachers in Catholic schools, leaders of youth movements. “These figures are far more worrying, they are chilling and in no case can they have consequences,” he said.
Speaking after Sauvé at the presentation of the report, the president of the French Bishops’ Conference, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort asked the victims for forgiveness, expressing shame. “My desire, today, is to ask for forgiveness, forgiveness from each and every one of you”, declared de Moulins-Beaufort, also archbishop of Reims, adding that the voice of the victims “upsets us, their number devastates us”.