“For us, this was not the first case that had to be revealed,” says a former member of the Sauvé commission.

“For us, it was not the first case that had to be revealed anyway, since it was already known” and “Abbé Pierre had died”declared Anne Lancien, a specialist in religious matters and former member of the Sauvé commission on sexual violence in the Catholic Church, on franceinfo on Sunday July 21.

During the investigation (2019-2021) of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE), “We had three testimonies” on sexual assaults by the defender of the homeless and the poorly housed, she says. In a column published Saturday in The worldfour members of the Ciase, including Anne Lancien, write that “Abbé Pierre’s sexual compulsion which leads to repeated aggression seems indubitable.”

For the researcher, “The case of Abbé Pierre was already known to the general public through biographies published in the early 1980s.” “We have come across many cases of priests who had been perpetrators of sexual violence, so why reveal this name rather than another?”she asks. “Names were revealed when they were known, when there was a risk of recurrence, when these priests or monks were still active and who had not been the subject of revelation”defends Anne Lancien. According to the testimonies collected, “We understand the violence of these acts and that there was no effective consent.”explains the member of Ciase.

“There are likely to be further revelations in the coming days,” assures Anne Lancien because “The more people speak out, the more other victims will dare to speak out afterwards”. “It’s still complicated for the victims” of “speaking in front of a figure as charismatic as Abbé Pierre”she added.