The Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) will immediately open its archives to researchers, and in particular to those mandated by Emmaüs to investigate Abbé Pierre, without waiting the usual 30 years, its president, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, announced on Thursday, September 12.
The archives “are open to researchers, normally there is a 30-year delay before they can be consulted but we have decided to open them to researchers, in particular to the Emmaüs inquiry commission,” he said on RCF and Radio Notre-Dame. These are the archives of the Church of France kept in Issy-les Moulineaux, separate from those of the dioceses.
“Some bishops knew, certainly”
Concerning Abbé Pierre, they contain “a fairly thin file” with “a few letters” which show that the Central Office of Cardinals at the time “took note of the behavior” of the priest.
“There is an element that he went to Switzerland” in the 1950s, but without “any details about what happened there”, and “that’s about it”, added the head of the CEF. As for the degree of knowledge within the Church of these actions, Mgr de Moulins-Beaufort said again that he was “unable to say” who knew what.
“Some bishops certainly knew a certain number of facts, but exactly which ones? A historical inquiry will be needed to tell us and I strongly encourage the inquiry that Emmaus has just opened,” he added.
An independence commission to “explain the dysfunctions”
Following the revelation on September 6 of new testimonies from women accusing Abbé Pierre of sexual assault, Emmaüs announced an independent commission tasked with “explaining the dysfunctions” that allowed him “to act as he did for more than 50 years.”
Mgr de Moulins-Beaufort recalled that Abbé Pierre “did not live in an ecclesiastical framework, he lived with Emmaus” and “it is on this side that there are archives. It is above all through this that we must try to understand”.
“In the 1950s, when this behavior began to become known, it worried many people and the Church tried to help him by imposing a psychiatric stay in Switzerland” and a companion. “Apparently, Abbé Pierre always managed to get around this. But I wouldn’t say that the Church did nothing,” he said.
- BFMTV.com
