Faced with the emotion aroused in France by the testimonies of sexual violence targeting Abbé Pierre, the Church is being pushed to react, to reaffirm its desire to help the victims and counter accusations of silence for years.
“I reaffirm here the work of the Church in France so that the truth is known” on sexual assaults and spiritual control, the president of the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF), Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, told the newspaper Le Monde on Monday.
Abbé Pierre, who died in 2007, is accused by about twenty women, some of them minors at the time, of sexual violence that for some could amount to rape. Since their revelation this summer by the Egaé firm, the question of the silence of institutions has been central.
The Vatican is aware
“The Church has made a mistake,” said the former president of Catholic Relief Services, Véronique Fayet, on French radio RTL on Sunday.
“The bishops informed and the leaders of Emmaus [mouvement créé par l’Abbé Pierre] “covered up the cases,” said four researchers from the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) in July.
A 1958 letter revealed by France Info could support this theory, since the Archbishop of Paris Maurice Feltin dissuades a minister from decorating Abbé Pierre, whom he describes as “seriously ill”.
Pope Francis rekindled the questions by stating Friday, in convoluted remarks, that the Vatican had been aware, at least since his death in 2007, of the accusations of sexual violence against Abbé Pierre.
These remarks “crush all the efforts of the Church in France,” believes Anne Soupa, the president of the Comité de la Jupe, a feminist and Catholic association that takes a critical look at the institution. “The Church did not have the right attitude” and today “is lost in this affair, it does not know where to go,” she tells AFP.
Known since 1955-1957
Mgr de Moulins-Beaufort, who in recent weeks mentioned an acquaintance with certain bishops, was more specific on Monday: “It is now established that, from 1955-1957, at least some bishops knew that Abbé Pierre had serious behavior towards women.”
He recalled that the Church had at the time had “a strong reaction to the ways of doing things at that time”, by sending Abbé Pierre for psychiatric treatment, by appointing an assistant to him…
Following the revelations of the Egaé cabinet, the Conference of Bishops of France has also decided to open its archives. The diocese of Grenoble (central-east), on which Abbé Pierre depended, has taken the same decision.
And now? In his column published after the Pope’s remarks, Mr.gr Moulins Beaufort also invites the Vatican to “study its archives” and to “say what the Holy See knew and when it knew it.”
Because Pope Francis’ statement also caused irritation: “The question remains whether the Holy See was aware of rumors or facts, and which ones,” underlines a source close to the case.
“Huge social progress”
More broadly, the Archbishop of Reims (northeast) calls on “all other institutions and organisations” to do the same, in this work of “truth” around an abbot who “has almost always lived at a distance” from the ecclesiastical framework.
Abbé Pierre, whose real name was Henri Grouès, was a member of parliament in the 1950s before becoming the “French people’s favourite personality” for several years in a row in the 1990s.
Following the testimonies published by the Egaé firm, Emmaüs announced the establishment of a commission of inquiry.
The Church of France, which has been facing sexual violence scandals for years, has set up several reparation bodies and listening cells.
Today, the victims are speaking out and “this is a huge social step forward,” assured Mr.gr of Moulins-Beaufort, promising them his “determination that their words will produce an effect”.
Some doubt, however, that this extraordinary affair represents a real turning point.
“The bishops of France are moving forward, but dragging their feet, because they cannot do otherwise,” believes a critical observer of the Church: “They should speak frankly, say: our predecessors acted badly.”