The report was commissioned by the French Bishops' Conference.

The CIASE report was wrong to impute the Church with systemic responsibility for sexual abuse, say media-leaked letters to the French Bishops' Conference president and the papal nuncio to France.

The letters were signed by eight Academy members including its president, Hugues Portelli.

At present the Academy has about 70 members.

The letters questioned some of the report's juridical and theological aspects.

They say the report (also known as the Sauvé report) is overly aggressive. They denounce "its methodological weaknesses" and "its sometimes hazardous analyses".

At the same time, they admit the report "was born of a courageous and justified approach" but its findings "can only serve to guide the action of the Church and its faithful.

"Some of them could be ruinous for the Church; others call into question (its) spiritual and sacred nature," the letters say. A big concern is the high number of alleged victims the report estimates.

A meeting at the Vatican for CIASE members to discuss the report had been scheduled for December 9, but has been postponed.

Sauvé says he was expecting attacks on the CIASE report, so isn't surprised to learn of the Academy members' letters.

"I sensed that they would be more precocious and very strong, in particular from traditionalist circles. It came from the Catholic Academy.

"The criticism of our report is of course legitimate. I wrote that in the introduction ... but I have feelings of sadness ... because I myself am a member of this Academy."

Sauvé says he thinks the letters' secrecy turns their effect into "a web of venomous attacks".

He is also concerned about the signatories' injunction to the Church to do nothing "either in terms of moral and compensatory reparation or in terms of modification of behavior or rules if the objective truth is not established".

This is particularly inappropriate in the view the Church has already taken and the modesty of the arguments put forth by these members of the Catholic Academy, he says.

"This is also an insult to the victims."

He says the letter-writers "have acted in accordance with the worst of a certain Catholic culture, that is to say, secretly, without contradictory debate and by going first to the authorities."

Sauvé says Portelli had invited him to present the CIASE report to Academylast month but withdrew the invitation "sine die, and without any real explanation, shortly after I said yes."

He thinks the aim was "to ensure that the Church is freed from having to make painful compensations and reforms that are necessary and profound."

There are the three victims of this view, he say: the Church - despite the bishops' courage in commissioning an independent report; the people who have been sexually assaulted; and the service of truth.

Sauvé has invited the Academy to undertake a study on sexual violence in our society and in the Catholic Church in particular.

Source

• La Croix
• Image: Dierso.com

In a statement on Friday, the conference said the French Catholic Church bears "institutional responsibility" for the thousands of child abuse cases documented in a report released in October.

"This responsibility implies a duty to provide justice and reparation," Moulins-Beaufort said.

He made the comments at the conference's annual meeting following a vote by the bishops.

In October, an independent commission published findings on child sex abuse in France's Catholic Church between 1950 and 2020.

The 2,500-page document details how an estimated 3,000 child abusers worked in the Catholic Church in France over seven decades. Two-thirds of the abusers were priests.

There were an estimated 216,000 victims of sexual abuse. The report found that the "vast majority" of victims were young boys from various social backgrounds.

Abuse victims had been invited to join the meeting, but many declined. Around 100 laypeople also received invitations to attend, but many couldn't due to the late notice.

"We had to clear our calendars at the last minute," said Dominique Quinio, president of the French Social Weeks. She is also a member of the steering committee of "Promesses d'Eglise", a network of reform-minded Catholic groups.

The invitations were sent out in the context of the recently published report on Church sexual abuse in France. The invitations were for the lay Catholics to join the bishops in various working groups, rather than address them as an entire body in general assembly.

But many of these laypersons said on the eve of the meeting that they wanted to help the prelates understand their feelings of "anger" at the findings by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE).

"There is a lot of anger, especially among the pillars of the Church," said Sylvie Bukhari, president of CCFD-Terre Solidaire and a member of Promesses d'Église.

Sabine Adrien, a member of Altercathos, said, "In the wake of the CIASE report, I was torn between sadness and hope".

"But this hope was very quickly dashed by statements from bishops, which made me very angry. Especially so, since the commission also noted very recent cases of mismanagement," Adrien admitted.

According to the document, two bishops, one in 2019 and the other in 2020, arranged a rapid departure abroad for two Fidei Donum priests accused of sexual abuse.

"The laity did not wait to be invited to Lourdes to give warnings and express their discontent," emphasized Arnaud Bouthéon, who is involved in several ecclesial movements and structures.

"The laity can be given more responsibility!" he insisted.

"Share, delegate and surround yourself with more men and women," is the message Dominique Quinio intends to tell the bishops.

But many of the lay people invited to the CEF plenary fear the bishops will not really listen to them. They question that the laity are there just for show.

"I wonder about the process. Is everything already locked in place?" one of them wondered.

"I hope we don't just serve as a decoration," warned another.

Sources

• Deutsche Welle
• La Croix International
• CathNews New Zealand

The 120 bishops are meeting to pour over a shock report released last month that detailed child abuse of more than 200,000 minors spanning 70 years.

The findings of the Sauvé report on sexual abuse in the Church horrified the nation after revealing around 3,000 clergy sexually abused 216,000 minors from 1950 to 2020.

The commission stated the abuse was a "massive phenomenon" covered up for decades by a "veil of silence".

The nearly 2,500-page report found that the "vast majority" of victims were pre-adolescent boys from various social backgrounds.

The bishops conference agenda suggests the meeting attendees will "fight against violence and sexual aggression directed at minors".

The gathering, which started with a period of silence to honour the victims, is taking place in Lourdes, a Catholic holy site and one of the world's top pilgrimage destinations.

Some victims were invited to join the meeting. However, many declined, denouncing the decision to make the sexual abuse scandal just one of several topics — rather than the sole issue on the agenda.

Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the Bishops' Conference of France (CEF), who co-requested the report, expressed his "shame and horror" at the findings. At the same time, Pope Francis said he felt "great sorrow".

Jean-Luc Souveton, a priest who was sexually abused, said he would attend both a plenary session and a special session dedicated to the abuses. He hoped to make the bishops understand why more victims had not turned up.

"I don't represent those who are staying away. But, I want to make their presence felt if only to say why they didn't come," Souveton told AFP.

Many bishops declined to comment when approached by La Croix for comment on the report, but a few did respond.

Bishop Marc Beaumont, head of the Diocese of Moulins, did not hide that he feels as "helpless" as "a mouse in front of a mountain".

"It is a time of considerable trial, we are stunned," said Bishop Hubert Herbreteau, who has led the Diocese of Agen in southern France since 2005.

Bishop Jean-Luc Brunin of Le Havre was just as dumbfounded.

"I am stunned by the numbers. It's really frightening," said the 70-year-old prelate, who has been a bishop for nearly 22 years.

"I have mixed feelings," said Archbishop Herbreteau.

"I feel great pain, suffering, and even shame. But, at the same time, I realize that the work has opened, that there is a challenge to be met," he said.

Sources

• France24
• La Croix
• EuroNews

The "Appeal for a Renewed and Trustworthy Church", was posted on Monday. It is an online petition calling for the en masse resignation of the country's bishops.

"As a sign of hope and renewal, we ask for the collective resignation of all the bishops in office.

"It is the only gesture commensurate with the catastrophe and the loss of confidence in which we find ourselves," says the petition website.

"Faced with this bankruptcy, the resignation of the bishops is the only honourable solution," said Anne Soupa, a theologian and married mother of four adult children who "applied" last year to become Archbishop of Lyon.

Soupa is one of three leading reform-minded Catholics in France behind the drive.

The other two are François Devaux, co-founder of the abuse victims' group "La Parole Libérée", and Christine Pedotti, editorial director of the progressive Catholic magazine Témoignage Chrétien.

During its first 24 hours online, the appeal/petition had gathered nearly 3,200 signatures.

It comes six days after the October 5 publication of the damaging report by the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE).

Also known as the Sauvé Report, the massive document revealed that some 330,000 children and adolescents were victims of sexual violence in the Church in France between 1950 and 2020.

"In any other association or company, resignation would have been demanded even for something 100 times less damaging. All the leaders would have had to resign," said Soupa.

"Undoubtedly, not all French bishops have covered up crimes. But the very structure of the Catholic hierarchy assumes continuity and solidarity between each bishop and his predecessor. As such, though not all are guilty, all are responsible," says the online petition.

To support their demand, the three signatories point to a "precedent" in the Catholic Church.

In 2018, the group resignation of 34 Chilean bishops occurred after they were directly challenged by Pope Francis for mishandling sexual abuse cases. The pope eventually accepted the resignation of seven of them.

Pedotti, Soupa and Devaux have received the support of Reverend Pierre Vignon, an expert on tackling sexual abuse in the Church.

"What would have had panache and would have made an impression would have been to collectively resign immediately," said Vignon. He is a priest who is known to be a straight-shooter and a bit of a maverick.

"They (the bishops) can still do that at their next plenary assembly in Lourdes in November," he said.

Sources

• La Croix International
• The Economist