A priest convicted of child crime celebrated Sunday mass on France 2 on October 24, franceinfo learned on Friday November 5, confirming information from the newspaper Release. He was one of the three priests who officiated for this mass in Asnières-sur-Seine (Hauts-de-Seine) and he was sentenced to ten months suspended prison sentence in 2007, in Nancy, for “sexual assault on a minor under 15 years “. This revelation comes in the context of the bishops’ conference devoted to the recognition and reparation of tens of thousands of pedophile acts committed by religious. One month after the publication of the Sauvé report, the French Bishops’ Conference recognized on Friday “institutional responsibility” from the church in relation to acts of pedocriminality committed within it and the “systemic dimension” of this violence.
During the mass he co-celebrated for the program Le jour du Seigneur on October 24, this priest was in charge of the Eucharistic prayer, that is to say the most important part of the ceremony, during which we consecrate the hosts and the wine. He also read a prayer intention for victims of sexual violence in the Church. He then asked God to listen “the prayers of [son] people assembled in front [lui], especially for those abused in the Church and elsewhere “.
In Nancy, the parishioners who watched this televised mass were shocked. “When we are on sexual assaults on a minor and behind, we officiate by lecturing on Sunday morning in front of parishioners, there is still a big problem, denounces Olivier Savignac, victim of religious and spokesperson for the Parler et revivre association.“The Church should normally put them aside. Whether she finds a job for them, in the diocesan archives or elsewhere, to keep them under her supervision is very good.”
“That these priests are still in office, with this aplomb and this feeling of superiority compared to the parishioners and the faithful, it is not possible.”
Olivier Savignac, spokesperson for Parler et revivreto franceinfo
The bishop of Nanterre Matthieu Rougé suspended the priest in question: he can no longer celebrate Mass or the other sacraments. However, the question of the functions performed by convicted priests like this one is not so easy to decide, according to Alain Christnacht, president of the National Commission of Independent Expertise on Pedophilia. “The Commission says that they should not have any pastoral activity with minors and follow care, he explains. These acts are extremely serious. If the Church wants to bring him out by making him a layman, why not ? If she leaves him in the Church, she addresses us: what activity can he have? ? ”
The commission to which belongs Alain Christnacht is responsible in particular for evaluating the situations of priests who have committed reprehensible acts and for advising the Church on the fate of convicted priests. “VScelebrating mass is still quite natural for a priest, he continues. If a priest were forbidden to celebrate Mass for twenty years, one might wonder if he can remain a priest. “ Contacted, the general secretary of the episcopate said Friday “understand that one can be shocked”.