The Paris Prosecutor’s Office has announced that, despite the serious accusations of abuse, it will not investigate Abbé Pierre because he is no longer alive. It is not possible to investigate other people who could have undercover the abuse because the crimes have prescribed.
“The Paris Prosecutor’s Office has announced that the priest can no longer be investigated, even after his death in 2007,” says Orf. “The crime of ‘omission of complaint’ has prescribed, so in this case it is possible to conduct any investigation.”
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Previously, the French bishops formally requested prosecutors to open a criminal investigation into accusations of sexual abuse against Abbé Pierre.
The measure followed nine new accusations in a new report published on January 13. The Archbishop of Moulins-Beaufort, president of the French Episcopal Conference, announced the formal application in a radio interview on January 17, underlining the need to discover more victims.
Abbé Pierre founded the Emaus movement in Paris in 1949. Before the accusations of sexual abuse against several people, it was considered one of the most popular and known figures of the Catholic Church in France. He was known above all to defend the homeless in France and for introducing the law Winter truck (Winter truce) In the 1950s, which still protects the tenants from the evictions during the winter months.
The accusations against the priest came to light for the first time in 2023, when Emaus France received the testimony of a woman who accused Abbé Pierre of sexual abuse. In July 2024, Emaus published other testimonies in an independent report commissioned by Emaus. The documented accusations cover several decades, from the 50s to the 2000s, and among the victims are personal and volunteers of Emaus, as well as young women close to Abbé Pierre.
The French bishops made public the archives of Abbé Pierre in September 2023. In normal circumstances, these documents would have remained sealed in the National Archives Center of the Church of France until 2082. But now it is recognized that, from a legal point of view , the French state cannot do anything about it.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Press team. Originally published in CNA German.
CNA German
The CNA Deutsch writing offers global information from a Catholic perspective in German since 2015, with the support of agencies associated in Rome, Washington, Lima, São Paulo, Nairobi and Kirkuk. CNA Deutsch is an Ewtn News service.