Guillaume Dominguez 11:35 a.m., November 06, 2022

This Sunday, the bishops of France are meeting in Lourdes for a long-awaited plenary assembly.

The conference promises to be transparent with respect to abuse scandals and procedural secrets around the Bishop of Créteil Mgr Santier.

Words in the air for the ex-victim of Father Preynat François Devaux.

It is a session particularly awaited by many Catholics.

The plenary assembly of the bishops of France is being held this Sunday in Lourdes, while the Church is once again struck by a scandal of abuse and secrecy of procedures around the case of the former bishop of Créteil, Monsignor Michel Santier .

If the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) has promised transparency in this affair, François Devaux, one of the victims of Father Preynat, does not believe it. 

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"A collapse of the original message of Catholicism"

For the former founding president of the association 'La Parole Librée', the solution would be to reform the entire institution.

"The Church is cornered," he said.

"There are scandals and there will be more, it's a bottomless pit."

François Devaux insists on the need to reform the Church.

"From the moment you have an institution that commits a mass crime, which moreover involves children, and that this crime is systemic, there are two alternatives. Either it is reformed or it must be dissolved."

Problem for this association founder, the approach seems to be blocked at the top of the Catholic hierarchy.

"We cannot let an institution do anything on French territory. The CEF will not be able to initiate a process of reform of the Church without the approval of the pope who himself carries this project", explains he.

"But the Pope does not even want to read the report of Ciase [Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church, editor's note] or receive its members. What do they want to fix with this approach?", indignant François Devaux .

"It's ridiculous, it's a collapse of the original message of Catholicism."

The measures that the bishops will adopt to respond to the scandal of the Santier affair should be presented this Tuesday.