INTERVIEW
The 120 Catholic Bishops of France meet in plenary session from Tuesday in Lourdes to talk about ecology, but especially a possible "financial" allocation for the victims of pedocriminality in the Church. At the microphone of Europe 1, Thierry Magnin, spokesman of the Conference of Bishops of France, prefers to speak of a "recognition allowance" that will be paid to all victims, even those of prescribed facts.
"The Bishops of France are working on a financial gesture called a" recognition allowance "rather than" compensation. "The compensation is rather reserved when there was a civil trial for example," said Thierry Magnin in Europe 1.
Various compensation procedures put in place by the Church, or at its initiative, exist in the United States, Belgium or Switzerland, but not yet in France.
An allowance even for victims of prescribed facts
Financial compensation measures are strongly demanded by victims' associations, especially when the facts are prescribed. The spokesman of the Conference of Bishops of France wishes to reassure them on this point: "It will be for everyone, both when there has been a trial and for people for whom the facts are prescribed" , he said.
He adds, "We believe that it is an acknowledgment of suffering and that, whatever the circumstances, it is important that it be attributed, so it is a recognition of suffering in the form of flat rate."
This question is related to three other projects on which the bishops have been working for a year: the memory work with victims, the prevention of pedophile acts and finally the follow-up of guilty priests.