Pedophilia in the Church: the call to testify extended until October 31

The Independent Church Sexual Abuse Commission (Ciase) will extend its call for testimony by five months due to the coronavirus crisis. Created in 2018 by the Catholic episcopate to investigate pedophile crimes committed by the clergy since the 1950s, it will also report later than expected, in September or October 2021.

Left on the roads of France, to conduct its public hearings and its hearings of victims of pedophilia in the church, the Ciase had to give up several trips planned to Lyon, Dijon, Rouen, Aix-en-Provence, Bastia.

Over 4,500 testimonials

Pending their resumption, the listening platform remains open to continue collecting testimonies, by telephone (01.80.52.33.55) or email (victims@ciase.fr), until October 31 . As we wrote in February, by that date, the commission had received over 4,500 testimonies and conducted 140 hearings.

This work, which was to lead to the submission of a report this fall to the government, is also offbeat. "Our report will be delivered a little later than expected, in late September or early October 2021," according to Jean-Marc Sauvé, president of Ciase. It will notably include "recommendations to avoid the repetition of such crimes or misdemeanors", and will also look into the question of the perpetrators.