Abuse at the Foyers de la charité: the number of alleged victims almost doubles

Father Georges Finet is now accused of abuse by nearly fifty women, much more than initially. Getty Images / Stockbyte

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New charges against Father Georges Finet. This co-founder of the Foyers de la charité, an international Catholic work, who died 30 years ago, is now accused of abuse by nearly fifty women, much more than initially.

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First, 26 women accused Father Georges Finet, and most of them were minors at the time of the crime. They denounced physical or psychological abuses committed during confessions, and their accounts were made public in early May by an independent research commission.

But today twenty other women have testified, according to Father Moïse Ndione, the moderator of the Work of the Homes of Charity. These new testimonies confirm Father Finet's actions.

The first 26 alleged victims were for the most part former students of an educational establishment of the organization located in the south of France. They were between 10 and 14 years old at the time of the events. Fourteen concordant accounts attest to touching the body on the part of Father Finet and 20 testimonies attest to insistent and intrusive questions of a sexual nature  ," wrote the commission in its report.

The commission also received nine testimonies concerning abuses possibly committed by other people, some of whom were the subject of reports to the judicial authorities.

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  • Justice