CARDINAL RICARD. Cardinal Ricard’s confession to the sexual abuse of a minor was allegedly forced after a letter from the victim’s parents was sent to the Church. They could also minimize the facts.
The affair of Cardinal Ricard is a new shock for the Church. Especially since the first elements of the investigation opened by the Marseille prosecutor’s office for “aggravated sexual assault” on November 8 and the testimonies of the victim’s family indicate that the “reprehensible” conduct recognized by Jean-Pierre Ricard with regard to a minor was not a secret within the religious world and that the confessions were not made by the sole will of the former bishop.
If Cardinal Ricard admitted to being responsible for the sexual abuse of a young underage girl, facts that go back more than 35 years, in a letter read on Monday, November 7 before the episcopate during the Conference of Bishops of France, l he act was not guided solely by the feeling of guilt. The confessions rather became a necessity after a “virulent” letter from the parents of the victim addressed to the prelate of Nice in February 2022, the date on which Jean-Pierre Ricard was appointed to launch an investigation into foster homes. In addition to being partly and apparently forced, the confessions of the former Archbishop of Bordeaux could minimize the facts according to Véronique Margron, President of the Conference of Religious and Binders of France. On France Inter, the nun and theologian says she received the testimony of the victim and her parents who suffered an “extremely strong trauma” and “great violence”. According to information from the leader of Corref, once confused by the letter from the victim’s parents, Cardinal Ricard admitted to having “kissed” the young girl, but the nature of the attack remains unclear and must be verified by the investigation. In progress.
What do we know about the sexual abuse committed and admitted by Cardinal Ricard?
In his written confessions, Jean-Pierre Ricard recognizes having behaved “reprehensibly” towards a 14-year-old girl when he was pastor in Marseille within the parish Sainte-Marguerite. The man of the Church does not specify the nature of the facts but it seems to be a question of sexual abuse. While his confession comes 35 years after the facts, the prelate indicated “no longer wanting to hide his responsibility” for this act which “necessarily caused serious and lasting consequences” for the victim. Jean-Pierre Ricard also says he “asked forgiveness” from the young girl, now 49 years old.
Before making these confessions public at the Conference of Bishops of France, Cardinal Ricard had admitted to being the author of the abuse before the former bishop of Nice who had received the accusing letter from the parents of the victim in 2022. The religious had only confessed to having “kissed” the victim. The attack could however be more serious, as Véronique Margron, president of Corref, thinks, and this is what must in part determine the investigation for “aggravated sexual assault” carried out by the Marseille prosecutor’s office, which indicated that No complaint against the cardinal has yet been filed. The testimony of the parents and the victim of Cardinal Ricard, collected for Véronique Margron slightly supplement the confessions of the religious. According to them, the attack took place “in a close family setting” while the priest was at the time “a friend of the family”.
Was the Church aware of the sexual abuse committed by Cardinal Ricard?
The affair around Cardinal Ricard is not really a surprise for the Church, which was aware of the sexual abuse long before the public reading of the confessions of the former bishop. The members of the episcopate, at least some, knew what Jean-Pierre Ricard was guilty of since at least February 2022, the date of receipt of the letter from the victim’s family. It was the bishop of Nice at the time who received him in addition to the cardinal’s first confession. The president of the Conference of Bishops of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, was also informed of the case through Véronique Margron who was then in contact with the victim and his relatives. However, no report was sent to the courts before October by the man who replaced the Nice prelate, who explained that he only learned of the victim’s minority “later”. But what kept the episcopate from waiting several months before reporting the matter?
What is Cardinal Ricard risking?
After his public confession, Jean-Pierre Ricard indicated that he was at the disposal of justice, which immediately opened an investigation for “aggravated sexual assault” via the Marseille prosecutor’s office. The facts confessed by Cardinal Ricard, if the temporality proves to be correct, seem prescribed. The nature of the facts must be specified but in the most serious case, namely rape of a minor, the limitation period would actually be exceeded by one year. In this regard, French law provides that the period is 30 years from the majority of the victim, who was reached in 1991, i.e. 31 years ago. A priori, the man of the Church does not risk being prosecuted for this affair but if the investigation is carried out it is above all to determine whether the former bishop has made other victims for which there is no no prescription yet. If it took several months before reporting the confessions, the Church nevertheless calls on the other possible victims of Cardinal Ricard to make themselves known, in particular the dioceses of Marseilles, Montpellier and Bordeaux, where the former bishop exercised.
On the side of the Church, the case of Cardinal Ricard must be studied in Rome according to Véronique Margron who hopes and expects disciplinary measures since it is “morally unthinkable” that the man keep his title of cardinal. The future of the man within the religious community must therefore be discussed while the former bishop sits at the Sacred College, a high institution in charge of delirious the future pope.
What role does Cardinal Ricard play within the Church?
If Cardinal Ricard’s affair shook the Church, it is also because the 78-year-old man is a heavyweight within Christianity. First parish priest in Marseille, the religious was then bishop in particular in Montpellier and was appointed head of the diocese of Bordeaux in 2001 by Pope John Paul II and then received the title of cardinal by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006. and can then sit in the Sacred College. The man also held important leading roles in the fight against sexual violence within the Church, in particular by being a member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the equivalent of a Vatican ministry dedicated to taking in charge of issues related to sexual violence. In 2022, Cardinal Ricard received a proposal to take responsibility for a “new community, where there have been a number of abuses and in particular sexual assaults” in addition to being chosen to carry out an investigation. on foster homes.