Child crime in the Church: Jean-Marc Sauvé responds to criticism of his report

Europe 1 with AFP 10:31 a.m., February 10, 2022

He counter-attacks, with great reinforcement of expertise: Jean-Marc Sauvé, whose report on child crime in the Church since 1950 had been strongly questioned by members of the Catholic Academy, responds to his detractors, their accusing the passage of being "indifferent" to the victims.

The text was short but the message had reached the Vatican: at the end of November, eight of the approximately 200 to 250 members of the Catholic Academy of France, an unofficial body which brings together Catholic intellectuals, had denounced the "failing methodology", the "serious shortcomings" and the "questionable" recommendations in his eyes of the commission on pedocrime in the Church (Ciase), chaired by Jean-Marc Sauvé.

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Critics from members of the Catholic Academy of France

This report, published on October 5, caused a shock wave by estimating at 330,000 the number of people who had been the subject of sexual violence, when they were minors, on the part of clerics, religious or people in connection with the Church, since 1950. Apart from the family, the first focus of predation, the report clearly shows a three times higher prevalence of sexual assault in the Church than in public schools.

Critics from members of the Academy, signed in particular by its president Hugues Portelli, professor emeritus at the University of Paris II, had contributed to the cancellation of the audience that Ciase was to have with Pope Francis on December 9.

As he had promised, Jean-Marc Sauvé, in collaboration with Ciase, prepared a detailed "response" of 50 pages, published on the commission's website on Wednesday.

"There was an imperious need to show the faithful, who may have been disturbed by the malicious insinuations of the Catholic Academy, that these are not based on anything," he told AFP.

No "faulty and contradictory" methodology, says Sauvé

“Faulty and contradictory” methodology?

No, he says in his written response, citing the two expert reports he commissioned from a group of five recognized specialists in survey methodology and polling theory as well as from the former director of the 'Ined François Héran.

These two analyses, which relate to the reliability of the quantitative estimates of the report - in particular on an Ifop poll exploited by Inserm for Ciase - "welcome the seriousness of the methodological precautions taken" by Inserm, writes Jean -Marc Sauve.

They attest to the "solidity of the count" of victims and aggressors while the "coherence" of all the figures is demonstrated.

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Victim reparations issues tackled on 'legal considerations'

"Questionable recommendations", some of which are "ruinous for the Church"?

The recommendations did not deserve "to be pilloried without having been examined", specify Jean-Marc Sauvé and his team, who regret that the questions of reparation for victims are "addressed by the Academy solely through the prism of legal considerations ( ...) questionable or erroneous".

On this subject, they note that the mechanism recommended by Ciase - the creation of reparation and compensation bodies - was adopted in November by the Conference of Bishops and the Conference of Religious of France.

And that all the episcopal conferences of the countries that have created transparency commissions have then set up such bodies.

Ciase's audience with the pope postponed

La Ciase sweeps away other criticisms, specifying the "systemic" nature of child criminal acts, ensuring that its analysis does not "in any way affect Catholic doctrine", or even defending the "particularly reasonable" cost of the report, commissioned by the episcopate and religious congregations.

And at the Ciase legitimacy trial, Jean-Marc Sauvé replied: the Academy "simply does not accept that the Catholic Church has entrusted (...) to people other than clerics the task of enlightening the subject of pedocrime within it".

"Basically, the Academy criticizes Ciase and its report less than it shows its indifference to the victims", deplores the commission.

"This subject does not interest him. The only thing that counts in his eyes is a certain idea of ​​the protection of the Catholic Church, (...) in profound contradiction with (the) essential teachings of this Church, regularly recalled by the Pope" , she still regrets.

Ciase's audience with the pope has been officially postponed, but "no date has been set" at this stage, its president told AFP.

Jean-Marc Sauvé is also a member of the Academy.

Eric de Moulins-Beaufort and Véronique Margron, respectively at the head of the episcopate and of the congregations, for their part left this body after the critical text.