This is a hard blow for the young generation of Parisian Catholic priests. According to information from WorldFather Luc de Bellescize, aged 43, vicar of the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul parish, in the 10e district of the capital, is the subject of a preliminary investigation ordered by the Paris prosecutor’s office: he is suspected of sexual assault on a young woman who has just reached the age of majority.
The clergyman was placed in police custody for twenty-four hours, Wednesday March 6, as part of “from an investigation carried out by the 2e judicial police district, for the charge of sexual assault”indicated the prosecution World. After an extension of the legal measure, the police custody of Father Luc de Bellescize was finally lifted, Thursday March 7 at the end of the afternoon, in order to “continue investigations” as part of a preliminary investigation. He remains presumed innocent.
According to our information, the diocese of Paris today decided on canonical precautionary measures which restrict its ministry. The religious, suspended from his functions as vicar at Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, no longer has the right to confess or spiritually accompany the faithful. He can no longer prepare couples for marriage. Any public expression in the media is also prohibited: no more publications or speaking engagements possible.
Toxic relationship
Contacted, the diocese of Paris confirms the existence of measures taken against the priest, but refuses to specify the details. “While awaiting the outcome of these procedures, out of consideration for the people who have come forward to the diocese, their emotion and the deep suffering they carry, and out of respect for the presumption of innocence from which the Abbot Luc de Bellescize, the diocese of Paris will not make further comments”we indicate to the diocese, where we wish to remind that there is an e-mail and a telephone number available for any victim of abuse.
The facts would have occurred between 2022 and the summer of 2023. The young woman, then a minor, would have known the priest at the chaplaincy of the faculty of Assas, in Paris, and would have mentioned a toxic relationship and inappropriate behavior. The sexual assault allegedly took place after he came of age.
Luc de Bellescize was currently promoting his latest work, entitled Letters to Alma who no longer needs God, published in February by Editions du Cerf (176 pages, 14 euros), and praised by several titles in the Catholic press. The priest is also the author of a column in the weekly Christian family, known for his conservative positions. In its latest issue, published in the week of March 9 to 15, Antoine Pasquier, the editor-in-chief of the magazine, strongly condemned the recent inclusion of voluntary termination of pregnancy in the Constitution, fearing “butting blows” of Family Planning, which could, to read it, go as far as eliminating any legal time limit for being able to have an abortion.
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