The bishops of Beauvais and Soissons, in Oise and Aisne, have identified 11 new alleged victims of sexual violence in their dioceses, while the Catholic Church has just been shaken by a case of sexual assault involving the Cardinal Richard. Since the report, in October 2021, of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (Ciase) “as far as our diocese is concerned, 10 new victims have reported themselves”, indicates the Bishop of Beauvais, Jacques Benoit-Gonnin in a report spotted by Le Parisien.
“This brings the number of known victims to around fifty, and to 24 the number of priests in the diocese implicated for acts of pedocrime, 17 of whom died”, continues the prelate in this first “annual report of the reception unit- listening against abuse in the Church” published on the diocesan website.
“The information has been transmitted to the prosecutors concerned”
“For the other seven, four live in the Oise and no longer have any pastoral charge”, specifies the prelate. As part of a protocol signed by the three bishops of Picardy with the general prosecutor’s office of Amiens, “the information was transmitted to the prosecutor’s offices concerned”, according to the press officer of the diocese.
The Bishop of Soissons, Renauld de Dinechin, for his part indicated that he had learned through the testimony of an alleged victim on RTL, of “acts of sexual assault by a priest” against a child “then 12 years old”, a situation “which was unknown to us until now”.
Several listening cells set up
These facts, dating back 53 years, “would involve a priest” now deceased, having practiced “in the region of Coucy-le-Château”, specifies the bishop in a press release on the site of the diocese spotted by the Union. “In view of this testimony, I have informed the Public Prosecutor of Soissons who will take the action he deems justified”, adds the prelate.
“I am aware that, despite the age of the facts, the wound remains extremely acute in the victim and I understand it. However, I remain available to receive it”, he adds, indicating that he also seized the cell listening to victims set up in his diocese.
A figure of the Church of France, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard had created astonishment on Monday, by admitting, via a message read to the plenary assembly of the episcopate in Lourdes, to have had, when he was parish priest in Marseilles, he 35 years ago, “reprehensible conduct with a 14-year-old girl”. The Marseille public prosecutor’s office ordered a preliminary investigation into this case.