Philippe Barbarin is the highest-profile Catholic cleric to be embroiled in a sexual abuse cover-up in France. Victims have accused him of failing to report a priest who abused children in the 1980s and 1990s.
Image: picture-alliance/NurPhoto/N. Liponne
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The trial of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin began on Monday in Lyon. The cleric is accused of covering up sexual abuse and failing to protect children from priest Bernard Preynat.
The case has cast a shadow over the French Catholic Church, with Barbarin being the highest-profile cleric in the country facing the justice system.
Several other officials have also been accused in the Barbarin case, including Cardinal Luis Ladaria, the top Vatican official in charge of sex abuse cases. He won't appear in court though, as the Vatican invoked his diplomatic immunity.
Nine people have said they were abused by Reverend Preynat in the 1970s and 1980s while they were in the Boy Scouts program. The victims brought the case to court, hoping it can hold French church hierarchy accountable for its role in covering up sexual assault.
They accuse top clergy of allowing Preynat to be in contact with children until his 2015 retirement.
"The goal is to to stop the same mistakes being repeated," Francois Devaux, one of the nine victims, said shortly before the trial.
Cardinal Barbarin did not make a church appearance on Sunday, but sent a message to worshipers that was read aloud during mass.
"Ask unto God that the work of justice is done, ask also that he heals everything that needs to be healed in the hearts of victims of acts of pedophilia, which are as wrong as they are terrible," the message said.
Barbarin has maintained his innocence. His lawyers have argued that his client never obstructed justice, since the statute of limitations on the abuse had expired by the time Barbarin found out about it.
If found guilty of failing to report the priest's actions, Barbarin could face up to three years in prison and a €45,000 ($51,300) fine.
Pope Francis has praised Barbarin as "brave" and said that French justice should take its course. But Francis also spoke against child sexual abuse and in support of victims on Monday, on the eve of a historic global meeting on the issue.
The leader of the Catholic Church vowed justice and described pedophilia as one of the "vilest" crimes.
"I cannot refrain from speaking of one of the plagues of our time, which sadly has also involved some members of the clergy," he said in his annual address to ambassadors to the Holy See. "The abuse of minors is one of the vilest and most heinous crimes conceivable. Such abuse inexorably sweeps away the best of what human life holds out for innocent children, and causes irreparable and lifelong damage."
France's bishops have pledged to do more. Last year, they created an ambitious commission aimed at shedding light on sexual abuse of minors in the French church since 1950. The investigation's findings are expected to be released in 2020.
jcg/msh (AP, AFP)
8 films portraying Catholic Church sex abuse
"By the Grace of God," premiering in Berlin, depicts the Church's attempted cover-up of a sex abuse scandal. Such cases have long been explored by feature films. Here are a few memorable works.
Image: Jean-Claude Moireau
'By the Grace of God' (2019)
Francois Ozon's Berlinale entry focuses on the true story of a group of sex abuse victims who've formed an association to break the silence, years after they were molested by a priest in Lyon. The father's widespread abuse was known by his diocese's cardinal and even the Vatican. The actual Cardinal Barbarin, who attempted to cover up the case, is now on trial and could end up in prison.
Image: Jean-Claude Moireau
'Spotlight' (2016)
Based on a true story, this biographical drama directed by Tom McCarthy follows a team of reporters from "The Boston Globe" as they uncover systemic child sex abuse by Catholic priests in their city. "Spotlight" garnered six Oscar nominations and won for best picture and best screenplay. The actual investigation also earned a Pulitzer Prize in 2003.
Dark images, silhouetted actors shown out of focus: It's the cinematography of a horror film. Chilean director Pablo Larrain tackled an explosive topic in "The Club," in which four retired Catholic priests live in a secluded house and there "purge" horrible crimes, including child sex abuse. Larrain was inspired by true stories of high-level priests who live in hiding to avoid criminal charges.
Image: Fabula
'Verfehlung' (2015)
The German film "Verfehlung" (Misconduct) by Gerd Schneider depicts how the friendship of three priests is affected by a sex abuse scandal. One of them is accused of molesting teenage boys, and the two others react to their friend's situation in different ways. The way they deal with the truth could impact not only their relationship, but also their career in the ranks of the Church.
Image: Camino-Filmverleih
'Philomena' (2013)
With "Philomena," Stephen Frears deals with another aspect of the Church's institutional abuse: women who were forcibly separated from their children born out of wedlock. The film is based on the true story of Philomena Lee, whose son was taken away by the nuns at the convent where she was forced to work and sold to wealthy Americans. Actress Judi Dench portrayed the older Philomena.
Image: Imago/Zuma Press
'Bad Education' (2004)
While Pedro Almodovar's drama "Bad Education" is a stylized murder mystery playing on different levels of metafiction, it also tells the story of a young boy being molested by a Catholic priest in his boarding school. Ignacio, the abused child, is later a transgender woman who confronts the abusive father and blackmails him.
Image: Imago/United Archives
'The Magdalene Sisters' (2002)
The Magdalene Asylums, also known as Magdalene laundries, were Catholic Church institutions that served as a reformatory for women labelled as "fallen." Peter Mullan's 2002 drama portrays one such home, telling the story of four young women who were sent there by their families, or caretakers, and who faced extreme cruelty and abuse by nuns. The last such institution closed in 1996.
Image: picture-alliance/United Archives/Impress
'Primal Fear' (1996)
A 19-year-old altar boy (Edward Norton, in his Oscar-nominated film debut) is accused of brutally murdering an influential Catholic Archbishop. An ambitious defense lawyer (Richard Gere) takes on his case. In the course of the trial, it is revealed that the beloved archbishop had abusive tendencies and had forced altar boys into sex.
