Following the shameful revelation of massive sexual abuse committed by the Catholic priests in France for over seventy years, France’s Prime Minister Jean Castex has been received in Rome on Monday (October 18) by Pope Francis.
According to the Ciase report’s figures over 216,000 minors have been assaulted by priests since the 1950s amid shocking revelations of sexual abuse and a “secrecy of confession” controversy that have shaken the French Catholic Church.
Castex’s visit to the Vatican is under a dark cloud because of reactions following the publication of the conclusions of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (Ciase), released at the beginning of October.
It seems now the number of sexual abuse victims has risen to 330,000. However, the French PM told reporters that after his meeting with Pope Francis, he felt the pontiff has been “courageous” in dealing with the issue.
“He trusts the church in France to draw conclusions. He is pleased there has been no denial,” the Prime Minister said, adding “he is fully aware of this. It’s a long-term job.”
Castex was accompanied to the Vatican by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian for the visit that officially marked 100 years since the re-establishment of diplomatic relations between France and the Holy See.
However, what caused the most upset is when Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, the head of the Bishops’ Conference of France, said priests were not obliged to report sexual abuse if they heard about it during the Catholic ritual of confession, a sacrosanct custom.
But Moulins-Beaufort was wrong when he said that the seal of confession cannot be broken because the Vatican guidelines updated last year, made it clear that clerics must report claims of abuse. They say confession is subject to “the strictest bond of the sacramental seal” while saying the confessor should try and convince the penitent to tell someone else.
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