“Do not create additional injustice for victims” : this is the objective of the Conference of Men and Women Religious of France (Corref), which voted on Friday, November 19 to create a new independent commission for recognition and reparation, in addition to the body already set up by the bishops after the publication of the Sauvé report on pedophile offenses committed within the Catholic Church. Its president, sister Véronique Margron, affirmed on franceinfo that “this commission should be (…) fully operational from January 2 or 3”.
franceinfo: What exactly will this commission be used for?
Sister Véronique Margron: This commission will make it possible to receive victims or their relatives – who are also second victims in a way – such as parents, brothers and sisters. The goal is to give credit to the victim’s story, to show that they are taken very seriously and to seek responsibility. Then, the idea is to mediate with the religious institute to which the author of the facts belongs or belonged. Chaired by magistrate Antoine Garapon, our commission will be independent of Corref, religious institutes and victims. Reports will be made annually. Above all, it will also be possible to carry out research there, including in the service of religious institutes, to help us understand why our institutions have failed so much, what the extent and complexity of the trauma for the victims is. All of this is part of prevention.
How will your work in this commission be different from that of the bishops?
We have peculiarities. The first of these particularities is that we will also take care of people who have been adult victims. We know that there are: nuns, sometimes religious, but also other people. It was very important for us to take care of minors and adults. For the moment, the Commission of Bishops of France only supports victims who were victims when they were minors. Furthermore, we do not have the same funding method at all. Religious institutes will pay directly, if it is financial reparations. We have created a subsidiary fund in the event that the perpetrator belongs or would have belonged to an institute which has disappeared or is proven insolvent, so as not to create an additional injustice for the victims. This is the reason why it seemed important to maintain these two commissions.
Your commission comes after that of the bishops but your Conference was the first, last spring, to recognize “the collegial and spiritual responsibility of the whole of religious life in sexual violence”. Is this an essential subject for you?
Yes, it is fundamental for us. We have been working on this subject, painfully and seriously, for more than two years with the entire general assembly and the board of Corref. Our life is trying to bear witness to Christ and the Gospel. Bearing witness to the Gospel today is doing justice to those whose lives have been destroyed by members of the religious life, members who should have been the most respectful, the most attentive to the most vulnerable, to the freedom of conscience of everyone, but who committed these crimes.