Psychiatrist and member of the "Sauvé" Committee Thierry Pope, after hearing many witnesses, sees that there is a great similarity between crimes against children committed in the church and those committed within the family, not only in terms of methods of silencing the abused, but also Also in terms of using spiritual force and patriarchal authority to perpetrate this violence.
And the French news agency Agence France-Presse reported that an earthquake has struck the French Catholic Church and will inevitably exceed its borders, with the issuance of an independent commission of inquiry into child sexual abuse, a shocking report stating that more than 216,000 children and young people were victims of Catholic clergy in France between 1950 and 2020.
When presenting the report to journalists, the head of the investigation committee, Jean-Marc Sauvé, explained that this number amounts to "330,000 if we add the secular aggressors working in the institutions of the Catholic Church," including teachers in Catholic schools, workers in youth organizations and others.
To shed more light on this subject, the French magazine L'Obs hosted this psychiatrist, and was interviewed by Céline Rastillo;
To confirm - after verifying a large number of cases - that the church and the family agree on the silencing mechanism, because it is very difficult for the victim to realize that he is a victim of violence, and even when he realizes that it is not easy to talk about it, because the perpetrator has a supreme authority that one respects without Limitations, such as the authority and respect of fathers, especially since the priest also addresses paternity.
Talking is a risk
And if a person thinks - as the psychiatrist says - about talking about what he has been exposed to, this leads to the destruction of many things in the family, and there is a great risk in that, because he may not believe or may be asked to remain silent even if he is true to what he said, Therefore, the 'silencing' mechanisms greatly increase isolation, distress and guilt as well, because the child has placed his trust in this person.
The doctor cautioned that these crimes are different from other crimes that strangers may commit against children, because the criminal in this case is part of the child’s close circle, and some priests have led real criminal jobs over several decades within the church, dating back to senior sexual predators, noting That this does not apply to everyone, but it did exist, which raises an urgent question: How was this possible?
And what system has allowed this for so many years?
Speaking about the hearings for the victims that he attended with Judge Antoine Garabon, Thierry Bobby said that they thought a lot about the framework in which these interviews take place, which were neither a judicial investigation nor psychological treatment, noting that before the hearing they allowed the person to send them in writing in lines in dozens pages, and that the interview took several hours at times.
From victim to witness
The doctor said that during these interviews and being able to talk and feel that someone is listening and understanding;
It enabled most of the speakers to transition from victim status to witness status, and gave them the ability to say "that's what they did to me and so-and-so", noting that "these hearings had an impact on the victims, and they also changed us to some extent."
The doctor considers that those people who have reached 60 or 70 years of age after experiencing childhood sexual trauma and did not talk about it and did not receive any psychological counseling;
They will still have influences in different areas of their lives even if they do not develop mental illness, addiction or PTSD, and the effect will be so strong on their emotional lives and their ability to connect with others and feel love in relation to their sexuality, that even a 60-year-old said, “All through. My life, every time I make love I see the face of the priest."
The doctor concluded the interview by giving advice to victims of sexual violence in childhood in order to overcome the trauma, saying that counseling does not have an age stage, and that everyone who suffers from serious symptoms or diseases can be helped by a psychotherapist, sympathetic listening, or resorting to associations of victims who want to Mostly help their peers, especially since the past cannot be changed, but we can work to improve the future.