Estimated 330,000 victims of child sex abuse in French Catholic Church since 1950, commission finds

Oct 05, 2021

The Catholic Church in France showed complete and sometimes cruel indifference to people who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of clergy for decades, a commission investigating the abuse has found.

The investigation found that an estimated 330,000 children were victims of abuse between 1950 and 2020.

The report said an estimated 3,000 child abusers – two-thirds of them priests – worked in the church during that period.

The scandal in France is the latest to hit the Roman Catholic Church, which has been rocked by sexual abuse scandals around the world, often involving children, over the past 20 years.

Established by Catholic bishops in France at the end of 2018, the commission was set up to shed light on abuses and restore public confidence in the church at a time of dwindling congregations.

It has worked independently from the church.

The abuse was systemic, head of the commission Jean-March Sauve said at a public, online presentation of the report.

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The church not only did not take the necessary measures to prevent abuse but also turned a blind eye, failing to report abuse and sometimes knowingly putting children in touch with predators, he said.

Mr Sauve said the estimate on victim numbers, based on scientific research, includes abuses committed by priests and others clerics as well as by non-religious people involved in the church. He said about 80% are male victims.

“The consequences are very serious,” he said. “About 60% of men and women who were sexually abused encounter major problems in their sentimental or sexual life.”

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