“We are starting for the first time to have a work methodology and a more or less serious schedule”, reacted Monday, November 8 on franceinfo François Devaux, co-founder of the association of victims La Parole Libérée, after the announcements of the Bishops’ Conference on the issue of compensation for victims of sexual assault.
The bishops have decided to set up an independent national body whose role will be to investigate the requests of victims of sexual violence, with funds raised in particular by the sale of real estate belonging to the Church. For François Devaux, it is now “essential that the Pope in his turn recognize the institutional responsibility of the Church” to be able to truly initiate a process of transformation.
franceinfo: do the announcements of the bishops’ conference signal the end of the procrastination of the bishops you denounced?
François Devaux: Yes, for the first time, we are starting to have a work methodology and a schedule that is starting to get more serious. Obviously, not everything will be able to be done in a week of work, it will take longer to set up. But we must salute this work, these are commitments and then we will see how it all comes together. On the other hand, it is obvious that the bishops will quickly find themselves bound hand and foot on the rest of what needs to be done in terms of reform. There are a number of recommendations from the Sauvé report that are the responsibility of the Vatican and the Pope. So it is essential that the Pope also pronounces the recognition of the institutional responsibility of the Church. Because we can see that this is what is the starting point to then start the whole process as the bishops did. The Pope is well aware of the systemic dimension of the problem, there have already been a number of commissions around the world which have highlighted the problem, in Australia, Germany, Ireland, Boston. On questions of theology, canon law, position on sexuality, openness to the laity, to women, all of this will not be able to be carried by the bishops themselves. As long as we do not reform the system, the abuse of all these types will continue, sexual abuse of minors, of adults, abuse of power, spiritual. In the report of the Ciase (Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church), we cannot take only two or three recommendations, we must apply them all.
The Bishops’ Conference appeals to Pope Francis by asking him to send emissaries. Is this a good start?
It’s a good start, but the reality is that it should be the Pope himself who long ago should have committed this principle. We took it the wrong way round because we can’t get a serious answer from the Vatican. So in France, we are lucky to have a country where democracy is reliable and stable, where justice responds to elementary principles of impartiality, where there is freedom of expression, of the press, and that is well the media pressure of the victims which allowed us to come to this. This is not the case everywhere in the world.
“Can the Catholic Church recognize that there is a difference in treatment between victims across the world? An African victim will not be entitled to reparation while we in France who were born well have right. Is that the Universal Church? “
François Devaux, co-founder of La Parole Libéréeto franceinfo
It weighs on the shoulders of the Pope a responsibility of which he has probably not taken the measure. And as long as he does not recognize the systemic dimension of the problem, the episcopal conferences will not be able to move forward freely to repair what must be repaired. Every day there are victims who die in their suffering and in their silence without ever finding the slightest comfort and the slightest reparation.
This repair in France will go through an investment fund that will be supplemented by the fruit of the sale of Church property, is that what you were asking?
Obviously, because the situation of the dioceses is not equal. Some dioceses are bankrupt, do not have the same equity as others. Can we talk about solidarity? I would rather speak of brotherhood. Can countries that do not have sufficient financial strength count on the Vatican and Vatican property for financial redress? There is still a lot to do. The Vatican must initiate this movement. The Catholic Church has a very specific status which is a hierarchical status, with a State, a Head of State, a spiritual leader. So there is indeed a link of subordination between the pope and the bishops, between the bishops and the priests … It is the whole institution which must recognize this responsibility in a universal way, whatever the different penal codes in the world.