The parish priest of Saint-Germain de Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis), suspended from his charge last week due to suspicions of sexual assault which earned him a canonical investigation, is also the subject of a criminal investigation, indicated Monday, April 17 the Paris prosecutor's office, confirming information from
La Croix
.
On Sunday, the diocese of Paris announced that the parish priest of Saint-Germain de Pantin had been suspended from his charge, under the influence of a canonical investigation, for accusations of sexual assault on young adult women between 1993 and 2002.
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"Dysfunction"
Asked by AFP on Monday, the diocese admitted a "
dysfunction
" in the management of the appointment of this priest.
Indeed, according to the diocese, at least three reports from alleged victims were made to the Church, in 2019, 2020 and 2022. This did not prevent the Bishop of Saint-Denis from appointing Jacques Gagey pastor of the parish of Pantin in September 2022.
“
The diocese's abuse prevention and management service centralizes alerts concerning minors at the time of the events, unlike alerts concerning adults, which until now were managed by each vicar general in charge of the priest.
This way of managing in silos, without centralizing information, can explain this dysfunction
,” the diocese explained.
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The latter, after a new alert in November 2022, specifies that he immediately reported the facts to the prosecution, for four alleged victims in total.
If the priest was not suspended at this time, it is because "
the prosecution expressly requested that the person concerned not be notified, so as not to disturb the investigation
", indicated a source close to the case.
The canonical investigation with the Vatican was opened last week.