FR - DE  - IT

We are a group of victims who have contributed to the investigation done by the French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church. This commission has established facts of sexual abuse in the Church. The victims are entitled to compensation for the harm they suffered, the members of the church in charge must act in coherence with the words they speak.

The work which has been done by the French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church has revealed the facts of sexual abuse led by clerics on the French territory. Victims’ associations pay tribute to the French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse for their considerable work and genuinely thank them for completing it.

From now on, these offences which have affected under 18s and adults, cannot be questioned or played down. They have been described as death work by the French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church. These acts of violence and their concealing cannot be exclusively ascribed to individual misconduct but rather to ecclesial establishment inherent misconduct.

Victims as well as perpetrators (of these acts of violences) are above all French citizens who must be judged according to the principles of equality and justice of the French motto. Nevertheless even though legal proceedings are prescribed or perpetrators have died, the ecclesial establishment cannot escape from its duty on this behalf. The ecclesial establishment has the duty to compensate victims equal to the harm suffered, should it be moral.

Victims from around the world expect the members of the church in charge to prove and publicly give assurance that they do everything they can to actually reach the goal they claim they are pursuing which is to put a stop to cleric abuse and for the Church to be a safe place. We are hoping that bishops and every member in charge at all levels respect and implement every recommendation made by the French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church, an inquiry commission they created. Hence, humankind will witness their actions accordingly.

Thus, wherever they are, we call all the victims and all the people who feel they have something to do with this, to actively join in order to further the Church with determination, to put a stop to its burying of its members’ crimes, to make sure its leaders take responsibility at all levels without delay.

Signed by a French victim committee, French associations and groups who have contributed to the  investigation led by the French Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church : association Comme une Mère Aimante, Collectif des victimes Aumônerie du lycée d'Enghien, association Parler et Revivre, Laurence Poujade et l'association Sentinelle, Michèle-France Pesneau, François Devaux, Yolande du Fayet de la Tour