Six months after the first revelations on the behavior of Abbot Pierre, a third report, published this Monday by the specialized firm Egaé, reports nine new testimonies against the priest.
Mandated by Emmaüs International, Emmaüs France and the Abbé Pierre Foundation to shed light on the actions of Abbot Pierrethe specialized firm Egaé published this Monday, January 13, 2025 a third report implicating the famous priest who died in 2007, at the age of 94. Nine new accusations against Abbé Pierre are reported there, bringing to 33 the total number of testimonies denouncing the actions of Henri Grouès, his real name, since the start of the affair.
Among these new facts reported is the testimony of a little boy. If the victim refused to have the circumstances of the crime publicly exposed, wishing to remain anonymous, the report nevertheless specifies that Abbé Pierre is accused of “a sexual act with penetration on a minor boy”. Facts corroborated by the victim with elements which made it possible to “certify the veracity of his testimony”, we learn, as quoted in particular by The Parisian. While the second report had already reported kisses imposed on an 8-year-old girl, this third report relates, in addition to the boy’s testimony, a suspicion of assault on another boy, aged less than 10 years. The facts date back to “before 1965”.
Incestuous abuse
Other disturbing facts, the presence of at least two victims in Abbé Pierre’s family. A woman thus reported incestuous abuse dating back “to the end of the 1990s”. Abbot Pierre allegedly touched his chest on different occasions. He also allegedly made sexual remarks to her and kissed her once forcibly. The second victim, however, could not be heard and therefore does not appear in the official count.
Forced kisses and touching of the chest seem to be most often reported by Abbé Pierre’s victims. We also note that they were able to know him at different stages of his life, in varied circumstances, both in the family and professional context. Two caregivers attacked by Abbé Pierre in the 1990s and 2000s are among the victims, one of whom was pregnant at the time of the events. There is also a woman who worked in a hotel, a participant in a youth camp, another who accompanied him on a trip or even a flight attendant he met on a plane.
At least 57 victims, but…
If 33 testimonies are officially recorded, the firm would also have identified around twenty other facts. But some victims did not wish to be heard or the facts could not be consolidated by archives or the priest’s diary. At least 57 victims have been identified, reports Caroline de Haas, associate director of the Egaé group. But the president of the Conference of Religious Men and Women of France, Véronique Margron, who collected the very first testimony in 2023, believes that “on this type of affair, we must fear two to three times more [de victimes] at least – between those who will not dare to speak, those who experience traumatic dissociation…”
Live
20:40 – “Mechanisms for silencing victims”
This third report also highlights the pressure exerted by Abbot Pierre on his victims so that they, or their loved ones, remain silent. “Abbot Pierre had put in place mechanisms to silence the victims, in particular through threatening comments or behavior,” it says. As for the victims who dared to speak to those around them, several confide that “no one believed them”. An omerta which, according to this report, would continue to weigh on many victims.
20:31 – Photos of his victims found in a drawer?
In this new report, the existence of numerous photos found in a drawer is noted. If the passion for the images of Abbé Pierre was well known to all, the priest never parting with his Polaroid, a victim explains that after having been kissed by force and having his chest felt, the man church would have asked him to… strike a pose, drawing his camera. He then allegedly slipped the printed image into a drawer in which there was “a pile of similar photos”, according to the victim. “I remember thinking to myself that all these women had experienced the same thing as me,” the victim said during her testimony. Photos also mentioned by another victim of Abbé Pierre, and which Nathalie Longuet-von Zelowitz, psychologist and legal expert, does not hesitate to describe as “trophies”, relates The pArisian. “We can think of a collection of victims, of a need to immortalize the moment to replay it later.”