INTERVIEW
It is an unprecedented device intended for the "recognition of the suffering" of the assaulted people. Meeting Saturday in Lourdes, the Bishops of France voted in favor of a "lump sum" for victims of sexual assaults committed by priests when they were minors. Invited Saturday of Europe 1, Vincent Neymon, deputy spokesman of the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF), believes that this measure is "an additional step" in the fight of the Church against sexual violence committed within it .
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Recalling "the shame that the Church endorses for allowing these acts to continue and for turning a blind eye, or even arranging things so that these sufferings are not known", Vincent Neymon acknowledges that the implementation the place of this financial package "will probably not suffice", and that the money "will not repair everything", the suffering being "imprescriptible". "You have to be humble and modest," he explains at the microphone of Wendy Bouchard, noting however that it constitutes "an additional step in the recognition of these sufferings".
"Find other sources of financing"
"We do not know what will be the amount," he said, the latter to be proposed to bishops at their next meeting in Lourdes in April, as the specific endowment fund, which will pay the package. "You have to know how many people will be affected, find a fair amount, neither too low nor too high, and know what money will be available," says Vincent Neymon, who recalls that "the Church is not rich ".
Thus, it will be necessary "to go to find money", adds the deputy spokesman of the CEF. The fund will be fueled by the culprits, bishops, priests, and "a number of actors in the institutional church." But, says Vincent Neymon, it will "find other sources of funding", why not by proposing "to the faithful who wish to participate in this fund". "All Catholics are invited to participate in this recognition" of the sufferings of victims, he insists.
Asked about the other measures proposed by the CEF, his deputy spokesperson emphasizes the prevention, for example by organizing "testimonies of victims near the field". "Allowing everyone to be vigilant is the first of all prejudices," he says. Concerning the guilty priests or religious, Vincent Neymon explains that it is necessary at the same time "to find a solution so that the culprits can be accompanied like sick persons" once their sentence purged. It is also about knowing how to detect or welcome priests who will admit weaknesses. And to conclude: "On the issue of escorting the culprits, we are still at the beginning".