Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, one of the highest clerics of the Catholic Church in France, confessed on Monday that he sexually abused a 14-year-old girl in the 1980s.
“35 years ago, when I was a priest, I behaved reprehensibly with a 14-year-old girl,” Ricard said in a statement.
The cardinal’s announcement comes after a report revealed a large number of cases of child sexual abuse in the French Catholic Church.
“My behavior caused serious and lasting harm to that person,” he said.
Ricard, 78, was archbishop of Bordeaux, in southwestern France, until he retired in 2019 to serve in his home diocese of Dignes-les-Bains (south). In the 1980s, he was a priest in the Archdiocese of Marseille.
The cardinal said he spoke to the victim and apologized, but did not specify when.
In the text released today, Ricard also said that he also apologized to all those he hurt.
However, Ricard stressed that he decided “not to remain silent on the [sua] situation”, showing himself available to collaborate with the French justice system and with the ecclesiastical authorities.
Eleven bishops or former bishops have been accused by French civil justice or ecclesiastical justice of sexual abuse, the president of the French Episcopal Conference (CEF), Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, announced today at a press conference in Lourdes, southwestern France, which is home to a major Catholic pilgrimage site.
The 120 members of the CEF meet from Thursday in Lourdes for their autumn plenary assembly.
The goal is, among other things, to develop “concrete proposals” to improve the communication and transparency of canonical measures taken against clerics involved in cases of sexual abuse.
Source: TSF
