In a particularly tense climate, the bishops of France are meeting in plenary assembly, in Lourdes, from this Thursday morning until next Tuesday. After the revelation of a new sexual affair, the faithful demand more transparency from the episcopate.
This new scandal broke in mid-October. It concerns the former bishop of Luçon and Créteil whom the Vatican sanctioned for ” spiritual abuse leading to voyeurism “. In the 1990s, during “strip-confessions”, Mgr Michel Santier, then a priest in La Manche, asked two adult men to undress. The prelate acknowledged the facts. Two other bishops were aware: Mgr Blanchet, his successor in Créteil and also vice-president of the Conference of Bishops of France, and the archbishop of Paris, Mgr Aupetit, to whom the victims addressed themselves in December 2019.
But if they traced the scandal to Rome, they were careful not to inform the faithful. The case was revealed a month ago by the Golias site, then the weekly Christian family. If Mgr Santier resigned in June 2020, with the agreement of the pope, it is because of this scandal, and not because of the Covid which he caught and weakened him, as the then claimed. ecclesiastical officials.
The man did not officially leave his office until January 2021, and it was not until October of the same year that Rome imposed disciplinary sanctions on him. summed up by ” lead a life of prayer and penance Mgr. Santier retired to a religious community in Normandy, where he notably exercises the function of chaplain, and where he can still celebrate masses.
Church Sexual Abuse Report
These sanctions do not pass with certain Catholics. Because at the same time, the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (Ciase) issued its shock report estimating at 330,000 the number of minor victims of priests, religious or people linked to the Church since 1950. t the time, the institution had reacted, promised to reform itself and to compensate the victims. Thus, in Lourdes, in November 2021, the episcopate had recognized its ” institutional responsibility » as well as the character « systemic of this violence. But at the same time, the Church was therefore protecting one of its own again.
► To read also: Report of the Sauvé Commission: the Church of France between shame and amazement
Silence, lies, minimization of the facts… Apparently, the Church has understood; in fact, nothing has changed. And it continues. A few days ago, a similar case came to light. After the death of a Versailles priest, his parishioners learned from the diocese that the Vatican sanctioned him last December for raping a young woman. Again, a sanction kept secret.
The Santier affair, one betrayal too many
On social networks, some Catholics, including priests, vent their anger. A #SortonsLesPoubelles hashtag has appeared. Led by the collective Act for our church, these people demand a better management of abuses in the Church and above all transparency. They invite all the faithful to write to their bishops and organized gatherings last weekend in front of churches, at Notre-Dame in Paris, in Lyon or even in Angers.
Faced with this wind of revolt, the Catholic Church was forced to react. The bishops concerned ask forgiveness, assure the victims of their compassion, invite them to speak. The president of the Conference of Bishops of France, Mgr de Moulins-Beaufort, has published a press release. ” We need to think about changes in our procedures, in the way we conduct them and communicate the results “, he writes. He also had to modify the program of the plenary assembly of the Conference of Bishops of France to give more space to this subject. Proposals for reform will then be sent to Rome, he assures us.
These new scandals occur in an already complicated context for the Church. The issue of compensation for victims of sexual abuse is still unresolved. It’s far too long, say some of them. And the sums allocated are insufficient: no more than 60,000 euros per person. Out of nearly 1,500 applications received, only 75 have been processed.