At least three thousand pedophiles have operated within the French Catholic Church since 1950.
This is what is contained in the shocking report of an independent commission of inquiry, which will be published in full in a few days. For now, a preview has been provided by its boss Jean-Marc Sauve: the investigation has found between 2,900 and 3,200 priests or other members of the Church pedophiles. “A downward estimate,” said Sauve.
The report was drawn up after two and a half years of research based on church, court and police archives, as well as interviews with witnesses. 2,500 pages that try to quantify both the number of perpetrators and the number of victims. Not only that, "the mechanisms, above all institutional and cultural" within the Church that have allowed pedophiles to stay where they were, have also been studied.
The independent commission, made up of 22 legal professionals, doctors, historians, sociologists and theologians, was established in 2018 by the French Bishops' Conference (CEF) in response to a series of scandals that have shaken the Church in France and around the world.
The report will be delivered to CEF and disseminated on Tuesday: "It will be an explosion," a member of the commission told AFP. "It will have the effect of a bomb," added Olivier Savignac, of the victims' association Parler et Revivre.
(Unioneonline / D)
