The steeple of a church in France, illustration -

GILE MICHEL / SIPA

  • A repentance ceremony is to take place on Sunday at Luzon Cathedral.

    • An approach "for the victims but also for all the faithful of the Catholic Church in the diocese, to help us carry our history together over time"

    It will be unveiled during a repentance ceremony for victims of sexual violence by priests.

    Sunday, at the cathedral of Luçon (Vendée), a plaque recognizing their suffering will be unveiled.

    This plaque, which will bear a long declaration of repentance from the diocese, is “a first in France” according to the Conference of Bishops.

    "It was a request from a certain number of victims so that memory can be remembered, symbolically", indicated Mgr François Jacolin, bishop of Luçon.

    Over the past twenty years, testimonies from victims, evoking large-scale pedophilia at the minor seminary of Chavagnes-en-Pailler (Vendée), have arrived in the diocese, particularly after the publication in 2018 of Jean-Pierre Sautreau's book " A cross on childhood ”.

    At least 65 victims

    This declaration of repentance was announced in October by the Bishop of Luçon who had counted 65 victims of sexual violence since the 1940s, including 12 women.

    Thirty-two victims were attacked at the minor seminary of Chavagnes or during preparatory days for the start of the school year, between 1956 and 1975.

    “You can never completely repair, but you have to do everything you can do to go in that direction”.

    This process of repentance, this recognition, "is first of all for the victims but also for all the faithful of the Catholic Church in the diocese, to help us carry our history together over time", declared Bishop Jacolin.

    Two moments will mark the ceremony scheduled for 3 pm, the unveiling of the memorial plaque and the “penitential” prayer.

    A "first step"

    A "first step", according to Jean-Pierre Sautreau at the head of a collective of victims in Vendée: "There were two years of reflections (between the victims and the bishop) until he made the 'solemn act of repentance in October'.

    "In Vendée, we are in a very strong process, which has a very strong impact on the victims, because they have been recognized in their suffering", underlines Jean-Pierre Sautreau.

    “Above all, (the bishop) did a job of moral responsibility” and “symbolically, it is strong.

    It makes sense in history ”.

    According to him, “the collectives of victims in France regard the Vendée as something exemplary.

    This is the first step that all victims would dream of before moving on to the “reparation” step ”.

    After having established at "at least 3,000" the number of victims of sexual assault by clerics, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church of France (Ciase) now estimates it at "at least 10,000" since 1950 , during a progress report on its work in March.

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    • Church

    • Sexual violence

    • Pedocriminality

    • Society