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world news Diaranson 6 october 2021

French report: 330,000 children victims of church sex abuse

(AP) — Victims of abuse within group La Parole Libérée (The Lib-
France’s Catholic Church wel- erated Word), said it was “a turning
comed a historic turning point point in our history.” He denounced
Tuesday after a new report esti- the coverups that permitted “mass
mated that 330,000 children in crimes for decades.”
France were sexually abused over
the past 70 years, providing the “But even worse, there was a betrayal:
country’s first accounting of the betrayal of trust, betrayal of morality,
worldwide phenomenon. betrayal of children, betrayal of inno-
cence,” he added.
The figure includes abuses com-
mitted by some 3,000 priests and an Martine, 73, and Mireille, 71, were
unknown number of other people sexually assaulted by a priest when
involved in the church — wrongdo- they were teenage girls in high school.
ing that Catholic authorities covered They both declined to give their last
up over decades in a “systemic man- name due to privacy reasons, in part
ner,” according to the president of the because some family members were
commission that issued the report, not aware of the abuses.
Jean-Marc Sauvé.
“It brings on such terrible thoughts,”
The 2,500-page document was issued Martine said. “For me, personally, I
as the Catholic Church in France, had to wait for my parents to die” be-
like in other countries, seeks to face cause otherwise she said it was “not
up to shameful secrets that were long possible” to speak out.
covered up. Victims welcomed the
report as long overdue and the head “I think that each victim experienced
of the French bishops’ conference it as if they were the only one (vic-
asked for their forgiveness. tim), and that’s part of this phenom-
enon involving control and secrecy,”
The report said the tally of 330,000 Mireille said. “We are in a condition philia, said “this is more than a shock.
victims includes an estimated 216,000 of submission ... in a mental captivity. “I perceived this priest as someone It is a deep feeling of shame.”
people abused by priests and other So, we follow this person who sud- who was good, a caring person who
clerics, and the rest by church figures denly takes power over us ... We are would not harm me,” Savignac said. Crepy said a process was underway
such as scout leaders or camp coun- caught in a spider web.” “But it was when I found myself to put together funds and create an
selors. The estimates are based on a on that bed half-naked and he was independent commission to handle
broader research by France’s Nation- A recognition of the fault is essen- touching me that I realized some- church compensation for the victims.
al Institute of Health and Medical tial, she said, and financial compen- thing was wrong ... It’s like gangrene
Research into sexual abuse of chil- sation is “really symbolic ... it won’t inside the victim’s body and the vic- The report comes after a scandal
dren in the country. fix things but it means it will also cost tim’s psyche.” surrounding now-defrocked priest
them something.” Bernard Preynat rocked the French
The study’s authors estimate 80% of The priest eventually was found Catholic Church. Last year, Preynat
the church’s victims were boys, while Olivier Savignac, the head of victims guilty of child sexual abuse and sen- was convicted of sexually abusing
the broader study of sexual abuse association Parler et Revivre (Speak tenced in 2018 to three years in pris- minors and given a five-year prison
found that 75% of the overall victims Out and Live Again), contributed to on, including one year suspended. sentence. He admitted abusing more
were girls. the investigation. He told The As- than 75 boys for decades.
sociated Press that the high ratio of The commission worked for 2 1/2
The independent commission urged victims per abuser was particularly years, listening to victims and wit- Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said
the church to take strong action, de- “terrifying for French society, for the nesses and studying church, court, Pope Francis learned about the re-
nouncing its “faults” and “silence.” It Catholic Church.” police and news archives starting port’s findings “with sorrow.”
also called on the Catholic Church to from the 1950s. Sauvé denounced the
help compensate the victims, notably Savignac assailed the church for treat- church’s attitude until the beginning “His thoughts go in first place to the
in cases that are too old to prosecute ing such cases as individual anomalies of the 2000s as “a deep, cruel indiffer- victims, with a profound sadness for
via French courts. instead of as a collective horror. He ence toward victims.” their wounds and gratitude for their
described being abused at age 13 by courage to speak out,” he said.
“We consider the church has a debt the director of a Catholic vacation “Sometimes church officials did not
towards victims,” Sauvé said. camp in the south of France who was denounce (the sex abuses) and even Francis issued in May 2019 a ground-
accused of assaulting several other exposed children to risks by putting breaking new church law requiring
Francois Devaux, head of the victims’ boys. them in contact with predators,” he all Catholic priests and nuns to report
stressed. clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by
their superiors to church authorities.
The president of the Conference of In June, Francis said a process of re-
Bishops of France, Eric de Moulins- form was necessary and every bishop
Beaufort, said French bishops “are must take responsibility for the “ca-
appalled” at the conclusions of the tastrophe” of the sex abuse crisis.
report.
The shocking estimate of more than
“I wish on that day to ask for pardon, a quarter million potential victims
pardon to each of you,” he told the dwarfs numbers released by other
victims. countries that have also faced national
reckoning with church sexual abuse.
“No one expected such a high num- But each country has investigated the
ber (of victims) to come out of the problem in different ways.
survey and that is properly frighten-
ing and out of proportion with the Instead of limiting itself to specific
perception that we’ve had on the cases, France’s report made an esti-
ground,” he told the AP. mate of the overall scale of the prob-
lem, extrapolating the number of vic-
Luc Crepy, the bishop of Versailles tims based on study of specific inci-
who heads an office fighting pedo- dents and nationwide surveys.