More than 200,000 minors sexually abused by French Catholic clergy, landmark report finds
The landmark report back to be revealed Tuesday suggests an estimated 216,000 minors had been abused between 1950 and the 2020; that quantity rises to an estimated 330,000 when together with victims of abusers who weren’t clergy however had different hyperlinks to the Church, comparable to Catholic faculties and youth packages, in accordance with Jean-Marc Sauvé, the president of the Unbiased Fee on Sexual Abuse within the Church (CIASE) which authored the report.
Between 2,900 and three,200 pedophile clergymen are estimated to have labored within the French Catholic Church for the reason that Nineteen Fifties, Sauvé mentioned prematurely of the report’s launch.
These numbers had been extrapolated from a survey for the fee by the French Nationwide Institute of Well being and Medical Analysis. The institute labored with the polling company IFOP to survey a consultant nationwide pattern of greater than 28,000 folks over the age of 18 on-line between November 25, 2020 and January 28, 2021.
The report estimated the variety of survivors nationwide over time primarily based on the variety of survey respondents who mentioned that they had been abused. The nationwide survey got here along with a public name for sufferer testimonies, Sauvé instructed CNN forward of the report’s launch.
Presenting the findings of the investigation on Tuesday, Sauve mentioned youngsters had been extra prone to be abused inside Catholic Church settings than in state-run faculties or in summer season camps — or in any setting aside from the household.
The issue was systemic, and the sexual violence was not restricted to “a couple of black sheep that strayed from the flock,” Sauvé instructed CNN forward of the report’s publication. “When it was knowledgeable of abuses, [the Church] didn’t take the strict measures crucial to guard youngsters from predators.”
Earlier this 12 months, he instructed CNN he feared it was “very doable that the victims will attain no less than the variety of 10,000.”
However the last variety of abused minors is believed to be greater than 30 occasions larger than that early estimate, in accordance with the report.
CNN has reached out to the French Catholic Church for remark.