Abbé Pierre, a French Catholic priest who died in 2007 and who distinguished himself through his work with the most deprived, is accused in a report of sexual assault by several women between the end of the 1970s and 2005, three organizations that continue his work announced Wednesday.
An icon of the fight against exclusion, co-founder of the Emmaüs movement, and a member of the Resistance during the Second World War, Abbé Pierre (1912-2007), whose real name was Henri Grouès, was for a long time the French people’s favourite personality.
Following “a testimony reporting a sexual assault committed by Abbé Pierre on a woman”, work was carried out internally by a firm specializing in violence prevention, Egaé, explained Emmaüs International, Emmaüs France and the Abbé Pierre Foundation.
“This work has enabled us to collect the testimonies of seven women who report behavior that could be considered sexual assault or acts of sexual harassment committed by Abbé Pierre between the end of the 1970s and 2005,” add the three organizations, who specify that one of them “was a minor at the time of the first acts.”
“We salute the courage of the people who have testified and helped, through their words, to bring these realities to light,” emphasize Emmaüs France, Emmaüs International and the Abbé Pierre Foundation, in this press release also revealed by the Catholic daily. The cross.
“We believe them, we know that these intolerable acts have left their mark and we stand by their side,” they add. “These revelations are shaking up our structures” and “these actions are profoundly changing the way we look at a man known above all for his fight against poverty, misery and exclusion.”
The Catholic Church in France said on X that it had learned “with pain” of these testimonies and expressed “its shame”.
The associations also indicated that a system for collecting testimonies and providing support, “strictly confidential, aimed at people who have been victims of or witnessed unacceptable behavior on the part of Abbé Pierre”, had been set up.
According to an internal source at Emmaüs, no report to the courts has been made at this stage.