Bishops “today must take action and especially not to look at the accounts, even if it means that the Church goes bankrupt”, estimated Saturday, November 6 on franceinfo Olivier Savignac, co-founder of the association “Parler et revivre”, while bishops, priests, leaders of religious orders and some faithful have “remember” to the victims of pedocriminality, in Lourdes, by meditating in front of a photo and by organizing a prayer of repentance at the sanctuary. Olivier Savignac salutes the penitential gesture made by the bishops, “which engages them even more”. He also appeals to the Pope, because the Vatican “knew” thousands of victims and did “nothing done”. “They too have to pay”, he assures.
franceinfo: This penitential gesture of the bishops, is it for you a communication blow?
Olivier Savignac: It is true that at the beginning I was attached to that. I thought that indeed it would be a communication coup as the bishops know how to do. And then I watched this ceremony which is not only penitential. Because there was a very important act which is a memorial act, with a plaque unveiled on the Saint Bernadette basilica, a sculpted child’s face. When I witnessed this in front of my TV, I felt a lot of emotion, because, visually in this sanctuary, there is a plaque that commemorates the victims. And there were very strong words from Véronique Margron, the president of the Conference of Religious and Religious of France (Corref), who said that everything is there in this face through this collapse that the children had experienced. And there is Eric de Moulins-Beaufort who says this sentence: “we owe it to you before humanity, before our conscience”. This commits them even more than what happened yesterday. There, it is in soul and conscience. Today was the second step of the stairs. And tomorrow, it will be the third with a vote and a decision on the start of a process for victims.
What are your decisions waiting for?
That the 45 very strong recommendations of the Ciase (Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church) report be implemented. These recommendations range from individual reparation to collective reparation and which calls for a comprehensive reform of the Church. If the Church of France takes this step, it is very important. But when we hear the Pope who encourages the president of the Conference of Bishops of France to carry his burden with faith and hope, I believe that it is not simply the burden of the Church of France. But it is also the Church of Rome, the Vatican, which must take its responsibilities and which does not take them. They too were aware of tens of hundreds of thousands of cases. They didn’t do anything. They too have to pay. If the French bishops and religious take their responsibilities, which I hope, it is also for Rome to take them and to pay.
Should this also go as far as the resignation of the bishops, as requested by one victim?
For me, resignation is not a solution. Before resigning, you have to take responsibility. It would be too easy to run away, to run away from a situation. These bishops, who are at the head of the institution of morality, must assume these responsibilities as much as religious. It is important that they assume by putting this process of reparations for the victims. I believe in a neutral place for most of the victims who have left the Church, so that the bishops publicly recognize their responsibilities. And we must activate this process of individual repair through compensation.
But compensating hundreds of victims, does that amount to a large sum of money?
It’s the price to pay. The Church says she lives in poverty. They owe it to themselves today to take action and above all not to look at the accounts, but rather to say, ‘we owe them and we will pay’. Even if the Church puts herself in danger, goes bankrupt, because it is their moral duty.