Pedocriminality in the Church of France: "at least 10,000 victims" since 1950

The episcopate and religious institutes have been working for more than two years on how they can recognize the suffering endured by the victims.

AFP - ERIC CABANIS

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The number of victims of pedocriminality in the Church of France could reach "at least 10,000" since the 1950s, according to a still provisional estimate announced Tuesday by the president of the Independent Commission, whose work is due at the end of September.

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The Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church (Ciase) has sharply revised upwards the estimated - still provisional - number of victims.

Established in 2018 by the episcopate and religious institutes after several scandals, the Ciase last June estimated the number of victims of sexual assault by clerics at " 

at least 3,000

 ".

An estimate resulting from the use of a call for testimonials set up in June 2019 via a wiretapping platform.

But this " 

call for testimonies certainly does not take into account the totality and it is possible that this figure reaches at least 10 000

 ", declared to AFP Jean-Marc Sauvé, the president of

this commission

, after having made a point stage of its work in front of the press.

“ 

The big question before us: what percentage of victims did he touch?

Is it 25%, 10%, 5% or less?

 He asked.

" 

This is part of the work that is currently underway within the committee, 

" he added, specifying that the figure of 10,000 would be further refined.

"Figures clearly below reality"

For François Devaux, president and founder of the association La Parole libérée, these figures already show in any case the “

colossal

 ”

scale 

of the phenomenon and question the “

systemic

 ”

dimension 

of this violence.

"

It is almost certain that these figures are clearly below reality,

" he said at the RFI microphone.

Because the problem of sexual abuse is precisely the identification of all these victims who do not reveal themselves. 

"

In June, Jean-Marc Sauvé had also estimated the number of attackers at 1,500, but this time he did not put forward an estimate.

“ 

There has been a real system of abuse in a number of Catholic institutions or religious communities, but in small numbers.

(...) This situation represents a very small minority of the cases of which we are aware,

 ”he also declared.

“We

will now have to work to answer this problem.

And this response will necessarily go through reforms of the Catholic systems, both in the exercise of power and in certain elements of its theology and its canon law

 , ”argues François Devaux.

The Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church has other work in progress (research on various archives, interviews, study on a sample of the general population).

It plans to submit its results and its recommendations at the end of September.

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