Jean-Pierre Ricard and 10 other bishops are investigated for sexual abuse
French Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, 78, confessed last Monday (7.Nov.2022) that he behaved “redeemable” against a 14-year-old girl in the 1980s. He and 10 other bishops and former bishops are investigated for sex crimes.
Jean-Pierre Ricard was a priest at the time. In a message from the cardinal read by the head of the CEF (Conference Episcopal de France), Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, Ricard said that he asked the victim’s forgiveness and that he put himself at the disposal of the French justice and ecclesiastical authorities.
“35 years ago, when I was a priest, I behaved in a reprehensible way towards a 14-year-old girl”, said. In the text, Ricard also wrote: “My behavior necessarily caused serious and lasting consequences for this person”. Here’s the intact of Ricard’s statement, in French (95 KB).
The 120 members of the CEF have been meeting since Thursday (3.nov) for the autumn plenary assembly. In all, 8 bishops are being accused of sexual abuse and 2 religious are investigated for omission. The 11th accused bishop, Pierre Pican, died in 2018 and also made the list for failing to report cases.
An investigation released in October 2021 showed that more than 216,000 children and adolescents were sexually abused by religious in the French Catholic Church. Over the past 70 years, it is estimated that the institution in France has had around 3,000 pedophiles, according to Ciase (Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church), created in 2018 to investigate sexual abuse by church representatives in the country. .
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