“Between 2,900 and 3,200 pedophile clergymen have worked in the French Catholic Church since the 1950s, the president of an independent commission on sexual abuse told CNN Sunday. The report aims to establish the facts and provide an understanding of what happened in order to prevent ‘such tragedies’ from taking place in the future. But the report does not aim to establish ‘personal responsibility,’ according to the commission’s website. The commission–made up of 21 people–was set up in 2018 by the French Catholic Church hierarchy and religious institutes after abuse scandals came to light. The archives of dioceses and religious institutions were accessible to the commission. Sauvé said creating the commission was an important stepping stone towards addressing ‘this secret and hideous side of our society’ and that an ‘enormous amount of work’ had gone into building the report over the last 32 months. Olivier Savignac, who runs a victims group called Parler and Revivre, said the release of the report would be like ‘a cyclone, a tsunami, a hurricane. There has always been collusion between the church in France and the Vatican to protect perpetrators of abuse. The church has been too moderate in following the word of God and taking care of the smallest and the weakest.’”
“Up to 3,200 Pedophiles,” CNN, Oct. 3, 2021