The Vatican has decided to launch a preliminary sex abuse investigation into French Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, after he admitted to having behaved in a “reprehensible way” with a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago.
FILE - Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, of France arrives for a meeting, at the Vatican, Monday, March 4, 2013. The prosecutor's office in Marseille has opened a preliminary investigation for"aggravated sexual assault" against Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, one of France's highest-ranking prelates of the Catholic Church. The investigation was opened Tuesday Nov.8, 2022 following a letter from an adviser of the current bishop of Nice.
Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, the retired archbishop of Bordeaux and a former president of the French bishops’ conference, confessed to the abuse in a letter last week while French bishops were meeting at their annual assembly in Lourdes. The revelation further sparked outrage within the French Catholic Church, which has been reeling over revelations of decades of abuse and cover-ups detailed in a groundbreaking report last year.
There was no word on whether he would be suspended or removed from his Vatican member posts pending the investigations. Ricard said in his letter he was placing himself at the discretion of church and civil authorities.
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