Cardinal Barbarin: Pope opposes "superficial media condemnation"

"Legally, also in the classic world jurisprudence, there is the presumption of innocence as long as the case is open," repeated the pope in the plane that brought him back from Morocco on Sunday.

The pope, criticized for having recently refused the resignation proposed by the French cardinal Philippe Barbarin, insisted Sunday on the universal legal rule of "the presumption of innocence", in the plane that brought him back from Morocco. The prelate was sentenced on March 7 to six months in prison suspended for not denouncing the sexual abuse of a priest of his diocese.

Indignation among the victims. The day after an audience with the Pope at the Vatican, the French prelate announced March 19 that his resignation was denied pending the outcome of his appeal trial. The 68-year-old Cardinal remains for the moment Archbishop of Lyon, but he has "withdrawn", leaving the leadership of the diocese to the Vicar General. The Vatican confirmed without detailing the reasons, while the announcement had provoked outrage at the victims of pedophilia in the diocese of Lyon.

"We'll see what happens." "Cardinal Barbarin, a man of the Church, has submitted his resignation.I can not morally accept it because legally, also in classical world jurisprudence, there is the presumption of innocence as long as the case is open. He has appealed, and the case is open, "commented the pope, interviewed by a French journalist on his decision. "When the second court will issue a sentence, we will see what happens," continued the pope, opposing "a superficial media condemnation." "Perhaps he is not innocent, but it must be presumed that he is," added the pontiff.

Cardinal Barbarin "preferred, honestly, to say 'I retire, I take voluntary leave and I let the vicar general manage the diocese until the end of the trial'", explained the pope. Reputed close to Bishop Barbarin, the Argentine pope has long personally taken the defense of the French cardinal. When the case broke out in 2016, he had already rejected a resignation of the prelate, saying that it would be "a misinterpretation, an imprudence", before the outcome of his trial.