Sexual abuse: what the Church is considering in reparation for victims

They recognized the “institutional responsibility” of the Church, unveiled the photo of a sculpture of a weeping child, prayed and asked, after the slow toll of the death knell, forgiveness to God on the esplanade of Notre-Dame basilica. du-Rosaire in Lourdes.

And after ?

The bishops of France close their plenary assembly on Monday, a month after the resounding revelations of the Ciase report on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in France.

They must unveil their work during the day, particularly awaited on the issue of compensation for victims.

What have the bishops worked on?

The 120 or so prelates gathered for seven days in the Marian city devoted around 40% of their work to the subject of “the fight against violence and sexual assault on minors” denounced in the report of the Sauvé commission made public on October 5.

The latter estimates that 330,000 people over the age of 18 have been subjected to sexual violence since 1950, when they were minors, by clerics, religious or people in connection with the Church (supervisors of boarding schools, teachers ...) and makes 45 recommendations to try to fight against these abuses.

How are the measures decided?

Several subjects will be discussed during the closing on Monday.

"The measures are submitted to the vote of the bishops present, and it takes two thirds of the votes for them to be voted", specifies Karine Dalle, communication manager of the CEF (Conference of Bishops of France).

Have resolutions already been decided?

Yes, one has already been voted on Friday: the recognition of the responsibility of the Church in sexual crimes against minors and their “systemic” dimension over the past seventy years. Other cases are decided, such as individual compensation for victims advocated by the report. “This week, things have happened. There was this awareness, this listening to the victims. There must be a duty of justice and reparation which must be translated in a very concrete way. (…) This is what will be implemented following the decisions that the bishops will take tomorrow morning

”, announced to the press Luc Crépy, bishop of Versailles and president of the Prevention and CEF's fight against pedophilia.

The compensation envisaged by the prelates should concern people who are victims of prescribed acts but not only, all requests will be honored, assured the spokesperson for the CEF, Hugues de Woillemont.

As announced in March, a national body will take care of examining the requests.

The name of its president is to be announced on Monday.

It will then compose its commission.

It remains to be seen where the money will come from, a point of contention between Ciase, which refuses the call for donations from the faithful, and the Church.

VIDEO.

Pedocriminality in the Church: in Lourdes, religious men kneel as a sign of repentance

"It is necessary that it is the institution which is amputated, it is obvious for me", affirmed this Sunday the archbishop of Strasbourg, Luc Ravel.

The bishops should also undertake to improve the listening cells for victims in the dioceses and to set up a “risk map”, as recommended by the Ciase, and confirm, with the Vatican's agreement, the implementation in the near future of an interdiocesan canonical penal tribunal, made up of lay people and priests.

“The entire report has been received, one recommendation has not been ruled out.

(…) There are resolutions which can receive a rapid response, others which are more medium or long term, such as recommendations which fall under a decision with Rome, such as questions of doctrine ”, warns Hugues de Woillemont .

What are the victims waiting for?

"That all the measures recommended by the report be put in place", pleads from the outset Arnaud Gallais, victim between the age of 8 and 11 years of a pedophile priest, and member of the collective From words to actions with in particular François Devaux, from The Liberated Word.

He also wants the compensation of victims to be recorded.

"I have a thought for all the people in a precarious situation that we do not talk about", he points out.

In addition to recognition from the Church, her collective is also expecting a gesture from the State.

“When there is a questionable sermon from an imam, Gérald Darmanin closes the mosque.

And there, we do not hear him on this subject while we are talking about 330,000 abused children, it is a real crime against humanity, "storms Arnaud Gallais, who fears that this assembly" will give birth to a mouse ".