France’s first major study of sexual abuse of children in Catholic Church estimates that some 216,000 children were abused by priests, and the rest by other church figures such as scout leaders or camp counselors during 1950-2020.
French clergy and other church figures sexually abused more than 300,000 children over the past 70 years, a major
investigation has found, and its authors said
the Catholic Church had turned a blind eye to the “scourge” for
too long.
The church had shown “deep, total and even cruel
indifference for years,” protecting itself rather than the
victims of what was systemic abuse, said Jean-Marc Sauve, head
of the commission that compiled the report, on Tuesday.
Most of the victims were boys, he said, many of them aged
between 10 and 13.
“Faced with this scourge, for a very long time the Catholic
Church’s immediate reaction was to protect itself as an
institution and it has shown complete, even cruel, indifference
to those having suffered abuse,” the report said.
Based on projections, the independent study estimates some 330,000 children overall were victims of sexual abuse linked to the church from 1950-2020.
Of those, it estimates that some 216,000 were abused by priests, and the rest by other church figures such as scout leaders or camp counselors.
The study’s authors estimate 80 percent of the abused children were boys. A broader study of sexual abuse of children in France found that 75 percent of the overall victims were girls.
READ MORE: Survivor says French clergy molested ‘216,000 victims’ in 70 years
Series of sexual abuse scandals
The revelations, which showed the problem in France was more
widespread than previously thought, were the latest to rock the
Roman Catholic Church, after a series of sexual abuse scandals
around the world, often involving children.
Pope Francis expressed gratitude towards victims for having
the courage to come forward.
“First of all his thoughts go to the victims, with great
sorrow, for their wounds,” a Vatican statement said.
“(His thoughts go to) the Church of France, so that, in the
awareness of this terrible reality … it may embark on a path
of redemption.”
The head of the French conference of bishops, Eric de
Moulins-Beaufort, said the church was shamed.
‘Bombshell’ report
Calling the report
a “bombshell”, he asked for forgiveness and promised to act.
The commission was established by Catholic bishops in France
at the end of 2018 to shed light on abuses and restore public
confidence in the church at a time of dwindling congregations.
It has worked independently from the church.
Sauve said the problem was still there.
He added that the
church had until the 2000s shown complete indifference to
victims and that it only started to really change its attitude
in 2015-2016.
READ MORE: Paedophilia scandal: Thousands operated inside French Catholic Church
Church must take responsibility
The Catholic Church’s teaching on subjects such as
sexuality, obedience and the sanctity of the priesthood helped
create blind spots which allowed sexual abuse by clergy to
happen, Sauve said, adding that the church needed to reform the
way it approached those issues to rebuild trust with society.
The church must take responsibility for what happened, the
commission said, and ensure reports of abuse were transmitted to
judicial authorities.
It must also provide victims with adequate financial
compensation, “which, despite not being sufficient (to address
the trauma from sexual abuse), is nonetheless indispensable as
it completes the recognition process.”
The height of the abuse was 1950-1970, the commission said
in its report, with an apparent resurgence in cases in the early
1990s.
Many cases are covered by the statute of limitations, but
state prosecutors have been alerted of more recent cases and the
commission stressed that the church should provide compensation
no matter when an offense was committed.
It added a list of recommendations that included
systematically checking the criminal record of any person
assigned by the Church to be in regular contact with children or
vulnerable people, and providing priests with adequate training.
Sauve said the commission itself had identified around 2,700
victims through a call for testimony, and thousands more had
been found in archives.
Sauve said the scale was unprecedented.
There have been
around 2,900-3,200 suspected paedophiles in the French church
over the last 70 years, he added.
READ MORE:
French bishops vow to reveal all paedophilia cases
‘You are a disgrace to our humanity’
Francois Devaux, a victim of church abuse and founder of
victims’ association La Parole Liberee, told church
representatives at the report’s presentation: “You are a
disgrace to our humanity.
“In this hell, there have been abominable mass crimes … but
there have been even worse, betrayal of trust, betrayal of
morale, betrayal of children.”
He accused the Church of cowardice and thanked the
commission, saying the report would prove a turning point: “You
finally bring victims an institutional recognition of the
responsibility of the church.”
The French findings come a year after Britain said the
Catholic Church had received more than 900 complaints involving
over 3,000 instances of child sex abuse in England and Wales
between 1970 and 2015, and that there had been more than 100
reported allegations a year since 2016.
Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis
In June, the pope said the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse
crisis was a worldwide “catastrophe”. Since his election in
2013, he has taken a series of steps aimed at wiping out sexual
abuse of minors by clerics.
This year, he issued the most extensive revision to Catholic
Church law in four decades, insisting that bishops take action
against clerics who abuse minors and vulnerable adults.
But critics accuse Francis of responding too slowly to the
sex abuse scandals, of failing to empathise with victims, and of
blindly believing the word of his fellow clergy.
Source: TRTWorld and agencies
French report: Clergy, other church men abused 330,000 children for decades
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