Eleven bishops in France are accused of sexual violence, the French church announced on Monday. This concerns both the clergy who are still in office and the formerly active clergy. As a result, the large number of abuse cases in the Roman Catholic Church is again on the rise.
One of the accused clergymen is the former archbishop of Bordeaux, Jean-Pierre Ricard. He confessed that 35 years ago he abused a 14-year-old girl when he was a village priest. He has resigned from all of his posts to him.
The accused bishops face a lawsuit. The church will also initiate disciplinary proceedings, the Archbishop of Reims said. He is also president of the Bishops’ Conference in France.
Over the past 70 years, clerics in France have sexually abused more than 200,000 children, researchers found last year. The Catholic Church knew about most of the cases, but turned a blind eye.
In recent years, a huge number of scandals have been revealed around the world about Catholic clerics attacking children. They were mainly minors. The vast majority of the abuses have been covered up.
