In 7 Decades, Thousands Have Been Victims Of Sexual Abuse Within French Catholic Church: Report

In a 2,500-page document prepared by an independent commission comes as the Catholic Church in France, like in other countries, seeks to reckon with shameful secrets that were long covered up.

The cross at the top of a church in Lyon, France. (AFP Photo)

New Delhi: Over tens of thousands of people are believed to have been victims of child sex abuse within France's Catholic Church over the past seven decades according to a major report due to be published Tuesday reported Associated Press.

In a 2,500-page document prepared by an independent commission comes as the Catholic Church in France, like in other countries, seeks to reckon with shameful secrets that were long covered up.

According to the report, the president of the commission, Jean-Marc Sauve told the French press that an estimated 3,000 child abusers — two-thirds of them priests — have worked in the church over the past 70 years.

Olivier Savignac, head of victims' association “Parler et Revivre” (Speak Out and Live Again), who contributed to the probe, told The Associated Press that the estimated number of victims in the report reaches 216,000.

“That is devastating, because the ratio between 216,000 and 3,000, it's one aggressor for 70 victims. That is terrifying for the French society, for the Catholic Church,” he was quoted by AP. Though these figures haven't been confirmed. 

According to the report, the commission worked for over two and half years listening to victims and witnesses and studying church, court, police and press archives starting from the 1950s. They also launched a hotline at the beginning of the probe which received 6,500 calls from alleged victims or people who said they knew a victim.

The report comes after a scandal surrounding now-defrocked priest Bernard Preynat rocked the French Catholic Church. Last year, Preynat was convicted of sexually abusing minors and given a five-year prison sentence. He acknowledged abusing more than 75 boys for decades. One of Preynat's victims, Francois Devaux, head of the victims' group La Parole Libérée ("The Liberated Word"), told AP that “with this report, the French church for the first time is going to the root of this systemic problem. The deviant institution must reform itself.”

The church must not only acknowledge events but also compensate victims, Devaux said. “It is indispensable that the church redresses the harm caused by all these crimes, and (financial) compensation is the first step.”