From a quagmire, it is by definition very difficult to extricate oneself. This is the case with the crisis of sexual violence that the Church of France has been going through for a few years. If she thought she had found an answer by acknowledging the systemic nature of the problem and taking action following the conclusions of the famous report by Jean-Marc Sauvé and his Independent Commission on Abuse in the Church in 2021, the institution does not seem to be at the end of its troubles. Tuesday, June 13, a new scandal came to shake the foundations of the Church at the very heart of the highest level of its hierarchy: that of the bishops. three newspapers, The cross, The life And Christian Family revealed that Georges Colomb, the bishop of La Rochelle, was the subject of a judicial inquiry for sexual assault on a young adult man.
“The Paris public prosecutor’s office entrusted the third district of the judicial police with an investigation on May 24 concerning acts of a sexual nature alleged against this bishop and which were allegedly committed in 2013”thus indicates the Paris prosecutor’s office to the World, confirming the information of the three press titles. These are the Foreign Missions of Paris (MEP), an organization founded in the 17e century to evangelize non-Christians, and of which Georges Colombs was the superior general at the time of the events, which are at the origin of the report.
Ironically, it was also on Tuesday morning that the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF), together with the Conference of Men and Women Religious of France, decided to publish its information booklet containing the measures taken by the Church since two years to fight against sexual violence.
Canonical survey
Tuesday evening, Georges Colomb announced in a press release that he had “made the decision to ask the Pope to set him aside for the time of the investigation, while remaining Bishop of La Rochelle”. The prelate, who specifies that he does not have “to date, been contacted by no investigator”, denies the charges. He is part of “His amazement and incomprehension” in the face of what he describes as“slanderous allegations” that he “strongly deny”.
For its part, the CEF, which is an assembly whose president has no authority over the bishops, who each depend directly on the pope, also reacted in the evening. “My thoughts and my prayers go out to all the people who may suffer from these situations”declared Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, Archbishop of Reims and President of the CEF, specifying that “the word of the plaintiffs” had to “to be heard” And “the rights of the defense, respected”. The canonical investigation to be conducted by the Church, and of which a preliminary version was opened in December 2022 by the nunciature (the Vatican embassy in France) before being interrupted to allow the work of civil justice, should resume once this is finished.
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