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Pope Francis, speaking to reporters on Friday evening on the plane back from his trip to Asia and Oceania, acknowledged that the Vatican knew years ago of sexual assaults by the abbot Pierre, the famous Capuchin friar who founded the Emmaus movement and who died in 2007 and is very popular in France as a symbol of help for the poor and homeless. In total, 24 women have already accused him.
It is a scandal that came to light this summer, and shocked French society, with an internal report by its organization that admitted seven complaints from women of non-consensual touching, forced kisses and comments with sexual connotations between 1970 and 2005. A contact channel for victims was then opened and on September 6, accusations of assaults against another 17 adult women and minors ―in one case, 8 years old― were made known, dating the beginning of the abuses back to 1950. That is, one year after the founding of the movement, created in 1949. The accusations place the events not only in France, but also in the United States, Belgium, Switzerland and Morocco.
Now the pontiff has revealed that in Rome they already knew about it long before: “I don’t know when the Vatican found out. I don’t know. I don’t know because I wasn’t here. [Francisco fue elegido en 2013] and it didn’t occur to me to investigate this. But certainly, after death, that’s for sure. But first, I don’t know.”
That is to say, the Vatican knew about it at least after Pierre died in 2007. But no one has made it public and it is not known what measures were taken. Because the truth is that the internal investigation known last July was undertaken only a year earlier, in 2023, when Emmaus France received testimony of an accusation of sexual assault against the abbot.
The Pope did not provide any further details in his talk, in which he addressed numerous issues when asked by journalists, and despite the Vatican’s inaction he said he was glad that accusations of abuse were coming to light: “I am happy when these cases appear.” Francis again condemned paedophilia as “a crime and a disgrace.”
Regarding the case of Father Pierre, he said that it was “painful” because he was a person who did a lot of good, but he was also “a sinner.” “We must speak clearly about these things,” he concluded. However, nothing has come to light that clarifies the scenario that the Pope has revealed, nor since when and how the Vatican knew about the cleric’s attacks.
The founder of the Emmaus movement, whose real name was Joseph Henri Grouès, was voted the favourite French personality 16 times. Born in 1912, he took part in the resistance against the Nazis during the Second World War and helped Jews cross the border into Switzerland. He then dedicated his life to fighting poverty and to helping the homeless, he created the Emmaus community in 1949. In Spain, the movement arrived in 1969. In France, he became a very popular public figure, listened to and loved as a moral authority. But now everything is in question: “The dissonance between the image of the Emmaus movement and the image of the Pope is a questionable one: abbe Pierre, his desire for justice and equality, and his behaviour towards women have created a huge gap between people who admired him or his commitment,” said the report that revealed the case.
As in many other cases, silence prevailed. The document revealed that the founder’s actions were known to the “first generation” of the Emmaus movement. One employee at the time even claimed that female staff were given instructions not to visit the abbot alone. The Catholic daily The Cross She also quoted biographer Axelle Brodiez-Dolino of the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), who said that “a small circle knew about it,” although at the time, “the question of consent was not addressed at all as it is now.”
In an article published in The World Last July, after the publication of the report, four investigators from the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) claimed that French bishops and those responsible for Emmaus knew about the case. What is more, they claim that these bishops forced him to go to Switzerland between 1957 and 1958 to undergo medical and psychiatric treatment.
Meanwhile, the Emmaus movement has entered into a deep internal crisis and is analysing what has happened in the last half century. The Abbé Pierre Foundation has already decided to change its name. The museum and the cultural centre of the house where Pierre lived in Esteville, in the north of the country, have also been announced to close.
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