“The Church is no longer afraid to do this work of truth,” says the Secretary General of the Conference of Bishops of France

“The Church is no longer afraid to do this work of truth on the attacks that may have been committed in the Church”explained Father Hugues de Woillemont, secretary general and spokesperson for the Conference of Bishops of France, on franceinfo on Thursday, September 12, after the Conference’s decision to make accessible the archives concerning Abbé Pierre, accused of sexual assault by more than twenty women.

The usual period for lifting archives for private matters being 75 years, without this decision, these archives would not have been accessible until 2082. “Given the seriousness of the revelations and in order to shed full light on the matter, we have decided to lift this deadline.”continues Father Hugues de Woillemont.

“We must do this historical work to understand the dysfunctions that allowed the attacks by Abbé Pierre, on the side of the Church as well as Emmaüs”he says. “We owe it to the victims”he insists.

The archives which will be consultable by authorized persons, that is to say by experts, the courts or journalists, are “the various archives of the services and bodies of the Conference, but also of certain religious institutions or religious communities”A gesture that had already been decided during the Sauvé commission, the independent commission on sexual abuse committed in the Church.