At least 10,000 victims of pedocriminality in the Church of France since 1950

After several scandals, the episcopate and religious institutes set up in 2018 an independent Commission on sexual abuse in the Church (Ciase).

According to an estimate before the publication of the conclusions in September, the number of victims of child crime in the Church of France could reach "at least 10,000" since the 1950s, according to the president of the Commission, Jean-Marc Sauvé.

Last June, the Commission initially estimated the number of victims at “at least 3,000” following the use of a call for testimonies set up in June 2019 via a wiretapping platform.

In November, the Commission indicated that in 50% of cases, the facts occurred in the 1950s and 1960s, in 18% of the cases in the 1970s, in 12% of the cases in the 1980s, 7% in the 1990s, 3% in the 2000s, 5.7% in the 2010s, as detailed by its president.

More than 87% of assaults were committed "on minors".

A small third of them were between 6 and 10 years old, and a large third between 11 and 15 years old.

Many cases probably still unknown

The adults (13%), especially “young” adults, were for a third religious in formation or seminarians.

Other lessons: "in only 14% of cases, a legal complaint was lodged", Jean-Marc Sauvé had also declared, which does not prejudge the follow-up given (classification without follow-up, dismissal, acquittal, conviction ... ).

But according to him, this call for testimonies “certainly does not reflect the totality”.

“The big question before us: what percentage of victims did he touch?

Is it 25% (of victims)?

10%, 5% or less?

", He explained adding:" This is part of the work that is currently underway within the committee.

"

The number of aggressors remains to be seen.

In June, Jean-Marc Sauvé estimated this number at 1,500. If he did not make a new estimate this time, he admitted that "there were in a certain number of Catholic institutions or religious communities a real system of abuse, but in small numbers.

(...) This situation represents a very small minority of the cases of which we are aware.

"