The Vatican was aware of allegations of sexual abuse against European generosity image Abbe Pierre as early as the 1950s, according to the authors of a publication that was released on Thursday. When he passed away in 2007 at the age of 94, the Catholic priest was widely praised for his work for the underprivileged and unemployed. He was the founder of the Emmaus generosity, which is now active in more than 40 nations.
However, more than 30 people have come forward alleging that he sexually abused them between 1950 and 2000, shattering his holy reputation. No judicial investigation could be launched because the statute of limitations had already passed in all circumstances, according to the prosecution in February.
In their publication,” Abbe Pierre, the Making of a Saint,” Laetitia Cherel and Marie-France Etchegoin assert that the Vatican was aware of some of the allegations for years. They wrote that” the Holy See and best French priests were aware of the danger and darker side of Abbe Pierre as early as 1955.”
According to their publication, the Vatican requested that Versailles ‘ priest engage in” a judicial treatment,” but nothing was done. The reporters claimed to have been able to access classified Vatican records that revealed a priest had written to the Holy See in October 1955 accusing Abbe Pierre of carrying out “immoral acts” while visiting the US.
Difficult behavior
The 1957 appointment about Abbe Pierre, who was born Henri Groues in 1912, was also recorded in the files. The 10-page report included extensive complaints against the French spiritual figure from 1955 to 1957, as well as details about two US and Canadian chiefs who had alerted the Vatican in 1955.
The Vatican’s ambassador to France was asked to keep an eye on Abbe Pierre at the time, and it revealed that it also suspected him of having relations to Socialism. Following the scandal’s second appearance last year, European religious leaders uncovered evidence from archives of the French cathedral that showed they remained silent about what they termed Abbe Pierre’s “problematic” behavior.
Pope Francis said in September that the Vatican had known about the accusations against the French charity figure, at least since his death in 2007. The Conference of Bishops of France at the time asked the Vatican to examine its archives to see what was known before then, but there has been no follow-up so far.
According to the author’s writers, the Vatican archives from 1938 to 1958 were declassified in 2020 so that historians could study the Holy See’s attitude toward Nazi Germany. One of them claimed that the Vatican might not have known that the violet document titled Abbe Pierre was present.
