Members of the French Episcopal Conference, in a file image. /
The Prosecutor’s Office investigates the former Archbishop of Bordeaux Jean-Pierre Ricard after admitting in public that he abused a 14-year-old girl
The French Justice has opened a preliminary investigation after Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard publicly confessed on Monday that three decades ago when he was a parish priest in Marseilles he abused a 14-year-old girl. “A preliminary investigation has been opened to verify the elements of this revelation,” confirmed City Attorney Dominique Laurens. The investigation will reveal the nature of the events, the date on which they occurred and whether they have prescribed or not. So far, “no complaint” has been filed against the cardinal, the Public Ministry said.
“Today, when the Church of France wishes to listen to the victims (of sexual abuse) and tell the truth, I have decided not to keep quiet about my situation and make myself available to Justice,” Cardinal Ricard, 78, announced by surprise on Monday. years, in a statement. “35 years ago, when I was a parish priest, I behaved reprehensibly with a 14-year-old girl. My behavior necessarily had serious and lasting consequences for this person », confessed the prelate, who apologized to the victim and her family. After his confession, he announced that he is going to take “a time of retreat and prayer.”
Cardinal Ricard, ordained a priest in 1968, is an important figure in the French Catholic Church. He held various positions in the diocese of Marseilles, where he was born. He was archbishop of Bordeaux from 2001 to 2019 and president of the Episcopal Conference of France (CEF) from 2001 to 2007. Pope Benedict XVI named him a cardinal in 2006. In October 2019, Francis accepted his resignation on the grounds of age. .
Cardinal Ricard is one of the four French cardinals who are part of the College of Cardinals, likely to elect a new Pope. He is also a member of the Discatherium for the Doctrine of the Faith, a Vatican body charged with dealing with abuse of minors by members of the clergy.
Cardinal Ricard’s confession has left “shocked” and “shocked” the French bishops, acknowledged the president of the CEF, Éric de Moulins-Beauffort. “His initiative to reveal a serious fact from his past is important,” said the agency, which was determined on Tuesday to “continue the work started to make the Church a safer house.” “Victims remain at the heart of our care more than ever,” he added.
eleven suspects
In total, eleven French bishops and former bishops are being investigated by the French or canonical Justice for sexual abuse or for not having reported these facts, Moulins-Beauffort announced Monday. Among the prelates in the spotlight are Cardinal Ricard and Michel Santier, former bishop of Créteil.
These cases have once again shaken the foundations of the French Catholic Church and outraged victims’ associations, a year after a devastating report by the independent Commission on abuses in the Church (Ciase) revealed that some 216,000 French minors were victims of touching, aggression or rape by priests or religious between 1950 and 2020. Those affected could rise to 330,000 if the acts committed by lay pederasts who worked in Catholic schools, catechesis or youth movements are taken into account.