France’s highest court for civil cases as cleared Catholic cardinal Philippe Barbarin (70) of concealing a predator priest’s sex abuse of minors. The Court of Cassation agreed with an appeals court that ruled the nine victims who filed suit against Barbarin some five years ago could have directly filed a complaint against the now-defrocked priest, Read more
A woman theologian has written to Pope Francis nominating herself as a candidate to be Archbishop of Lyon. Anne Soupa, who is A 73-year-old journalist and biblical scholar, is one of France’s best known activists for a greater role for women in the Catholic Church. Her request to the pope included a detailed cover letter Read more
Acquitted Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon, France has admitted to errors in governance for not denouncing former priest Bernard Preynat’s sexual abuse of minors. A week after the Court of Appeal in Lyon acquitted him Barbarin spoke of his “errors of governance” and discussed the “media tsunami” that has surrounded him in the past four Read more
The French appeals court has acquitted Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of charges that he failed to report sexual abuse crimes committed by notorious pedophile” and defrocked priest, Bernard Preynat. Barbarin’s troubles began in 2017 when he was charged and later convicted for not reporting the abuse of a minor. He received a six-month prison sentence for Read more
French cardinal Philippe Barbarin says he does not understand why he was found guilty of covering up a priest’s sexual abuse of children. In March this year the Lyon court ruled that Barbarin, “in wanting to avoid scandal caused by the facts of multiple sexual abuses committed by a priest … preferred to take the Read more
Pope Francis has handed the leadership of the Archdiocese of Lyon to a retired bishop after removing Cardinal Philippe Barbarin from the post. Bishop Michel Dubost, 77, now has executive responsibility for governing Lyon, whose archbishop is traditionally known as the “Primate of the Gauls”. He has been appointed as administrator “sede plena et ad Read more
Pope Francis says it’s possible French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin “is not innocent.” His comment was made in response to questions from French media about the Cardinal of Lyon during an in-flight press conference after his visit to Morocco last weekend. Last month Barbarin was found guilty on one count of failure to report a charge Read more
Pope Francis rejected Cardinal Philippe Barbarin’s offer to resign after they met in the papal office on Monday. Barbarin (68) offered his resignation as the archbishop of Lyon after receiving a six-month suspended prison sentence for the non-disclosure of sexual abuse against minors. He is appealing the sentence. He immediately offered his resignation for the Read more