Child crime in the Church: the fund collecting contributions from bishops and dioceses has raised 20 million euros

Perform an act of reparation.

The Selam, the fund collecting contributions from bishops and dioceses to compensate victims of child crime in the Church "has raised 20 million euros", according to its president, Gilles Vermot-Desroches.

"It's the first act.

The Church is at the rendezvous of what it has announced, ”said Gilles Vermot-Desroches, president of the Fund for relief and the fight against abuse of minors (Selam).

The Salem was created to support victims of sexual assault committed by clerics, religious or people connected with the Church.

330,000 victims of pedocrime within the Church.

In October, the Sauvé commission responsible for evaluating the number of sexual assaults committed within the institution shook the world of faith, and the world as a whole.

330,000 people over the age of 18 have been subjected to sexual violence since 1950, when they were minors.

The president of Selam Gilles Vermot-Desroches specified that from the sum collected, a first envelope of “5 million euros” would be allocated to the “financial support” of the victims and another of an amount of “one million to “prevention and memory approaches”.

Faced with the scale of the phenomenon, the bishops of France voted on November 8, 2021 to set up a national body responsible for compensating the victims of violence on a case-by-case basis, financed by the sale of property or a loan from the church.

Meeting in Lourdes in November, a month after the publication of the Sauvé report, the episcopate, recognizing the “responsibility” of the Church in these acts, announced that it was going to put its hand in its pocket.

The president of the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, had announced, “to begin with”, wanting to “collect 20 million euros”, by “taking on the real estate heritage and the investments of the Church ".

Since then, the dioceses have made an inventory of their available resources (reserves, sale of a dwelling belonging to a bishop, legacies, etc.) and have gradually announced the amount of their contribution.

"The decision of the bishops to endow Selam with 20 million has been held, and this in two months", welcomed Mr. Vermot-Desroches.

Among the contributors, "after the CEF, an overwhelming majority of bishops gave personally, each according to their means" and an "overwhelming majority of dioceses" gave, he said.