Member of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (Ciase) and Director of Research at Inserm and at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), sociologist Nathalie Bajos led a study for two years on victims of sexual violence by a priest or a religious. With a team made up of sociologists Julie Ancian and Josselin Tricou as well as demographer Axelle Valendru, she worked on the basis of a general population survey of 28,000 people, semi-structured interviews with 45 people assaulted during their minority and 24 “vulnerable adults”, and more than 1,600 questionnaires completed by respondents to the call for testimonies launched by Ciase. Mme Bajos explains why, with an estimate of 216,000 victims, the Catholic institution is more conducive than others to sexual violence.
What is the extent of the phenomenon of sexual violence against minors in the Catholic Church?
Our survey of the general population, carried out on a sample of 28,000 people, gives an estimate of 216,000 people over the age of 18 today who have suffered sexual violence from a member of the clergy (priest, deacon, religious) when they were minors. These are 78% of men and 22% of women. This figure is much higher than that which can be established from an analysis of the archives of the Catholic Church. If we add those who have been attacked by a person neither priest or deacon, nor religious, but in connection with the Catholic Church (executives of youth movements, schools, catechists …), we arrive at 330,000 people. .
How are these attacks spread over time?
For the analysis, we have distinguished three phases between 1950 and today: from 1950 to 1970, within a framework of still largely rural France and a tight Catholic network; from 1970 to 1990, a phase of priestly crisis and collapse in the recruitment of priests; and from 1990 to today. We note that the rate of violence drops significantly between the first and second periods. This decrease should be put in perspective with the priestly crisis, the decrease in the number of children who participated in activities linked to the Catholic Church (catechism, scouting, etc.), but also with the disappearance of small seminaries and the drastic reduction in the number of boarding schools. From the 1990s, the rate no longer fell significantly. The stake is certainly numerically less important than it was in the years 1960, but the sexual violence within the Catholic Church remains current.
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