CARDINAL RICARD. Cardinal Ricard’s confession to his “reprehensible conduct” towards a minor 35 years ago was prompted by a letter from the victim’s family according to the first elements of the investigation for “aggravated sexual assault” .
And if the confessions of Cardinal Ricard on a sexual abuse committed more than 30 years ago on a minor was not only because of the feeling of guilt of the prelate? This is indicated by the first elements of the investigation opened on Tuesday, November 8 by the Marseille prosecutor’s office against Jean-Pierre Ricard for “aggravated sexual assault”. The letter written by the former archbishop of Bordeaux, read before the episcopate during the Conference of Bishops of France in Lourdes, would in fact have been written after the demonstration of the parents of the victim. The couple sent a letter to the Bishop of Nice in February 2022, when Cardinal Ricard was appointed to launch an investigation into the foster families, to report the abuse suffered by their daughter and whose former bishop is the author according to the information of France Inter. Made aware of the mail by the bishop of Nice, “Mgr Ricard would have recognized with this prelate to have ‘kissed’ the daughter of this couple more than 40 years ago”, writes the parquet floor of Marseille in a press release.
The preliminary investigation targeting Cardinal Ricard is just beginning and must “first verify the exact nature of the facts denounced as well as their dating and make heard all the people who received confidences as well as the person who would have been victim of them “. Despite the confessions of the man of the Church, now 78 years old and retired, the recognized facts must still be clarified and detailed.
What do we know about the sexual abuse committed and admitted by Cardinal Ricard?
Cardinal Ricard’s confessions made through a letter read by the President of the Conference of Bishops of France during the meeting of the episcopate in Lourdes, November 7, 2022, created a shock wave. In his text, Jean-Pierre Ricard recognized having behaved “reprehensibly” towards a 14-year-old girl when he was pastor in Marseille within the parish Sainte-Marguerite. He did 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 in her fifties.
Jean-Pierre Ricard shocked with his confession according to the words of the president of the Conference of Bishops of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort. A shock that also affected “the diocesan and all Catholics of France” especially since the one who was appointed head of the diocese of Bordeaux in 2001 by Pope John Paul II was also one of the figures in the fight against sexual violence in the Church.
The Church was aware of Cardinal Ricard’s confession
Cardinal Ricard’s confessions “were the subject of a report to the prosecutor” shortly before they were read, but the Church was already aware of Bishop Ricard’s fault eight months before. It was in February 2022 that the first confessions were made to the Bishop of Nice via a letter from the parents of the victim. The prelate says, however, that he only learned “later” of the abused girl’s minority and it is his successor who has replaced him since March who sent the letter to justice in October. The president of the CEF also learned of the case in February through Véronique Margron, president of the Conference of Religious and Religious of France (Corref).
What does Cardinal Ricard risk after his confession?
The confessions made by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard on November 7, 2022 through a letter were reported to the prosecutor according to the Conference of Bishops of France. The man said at the same time to make himself available to justice which immediately opened an investigation for “aggravated sexual assault” via the Marseille prosecutor’s office. At the opening of the investigation, prosecutor Dominique Laurens clarified that no complaint “has yet been filed”.
The facts confessed by Cardinal Ricard are, 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 especially to determine on the former bishop 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 Le Parisien. It is there that the future of the man within the religious community must be decided while the former bishop sits in the Sacred College, a high institution responsible for delirious the future pope.
Cardinal Ricard, active against pedocrime in the Church
That Jean-Pierre Ricard in turn admits having behaved “reprehensibly” and having sexually abused a 14-year-old girl while he was a priest, creating a shock wave within the Church. Before his confession, the cardinal was known as a high-ranking man responsible for combating sexual violence. He was even a member of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the equivalent of a Vatican ministry dedicated to addressing issues related to sexual violence.