Without waiting for the deadline of 75 years after his death, the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) opened access to documents relating to accusations of sexual assault committed by Abbot Pierre. Some documents speak of “a seriously mentally ill person” and a “loss of all self-control”.
216 pieces in a file which mix printed documents and handwritten letters. A file, open to journalists and researchers, which relates to the knowledge of the facts by certain bishops or even to the concerns of some regarding the growing notoriety of Abbot Pierre in view of the alleged facts.
It was the Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) which opened access to the document in mid-September. “A few bishops at least” were aware “from 1955-1957” of “serious behavior” of Abbot Pierre “towards women” explained the president of the CEF, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, on September 16.
“A seriously mentally ill person”
On the other hand, among all these documents, the precise nature of the acts remains unclear. The archives speak of “moral misery”, “accident”, “reprehensible acts” or “abnormal state” but nothing precise on consensual liaisons, although they are proscribed by the Church, or liaisons not consented, which would correspond to what around twenty women accuse him of.
Among these archives, however, there is a particularly explicit letter of November 13, 1964 which could come from the general secretary of the episcopate. In this document, Abbé Pierre is described as “a seriously mentally ill person” subject to “loss of all self-control, especially after successful books”.
He also ensures that “young girls were marked for life” and that the abbot acted “without it being possible to catch him in the act.” Some were already aware of things, like Jean-Marie Villot, director of the episcopate secretariat, who wrote to the Archbishop of Lyon in 1958: “We must not hide from ourselves that all this may one day become known and that public opinion would then be very surprised to see that the Catholic hierarchy has maintained its confidence in Abbot Pierre.”
Fears of the Church in the face of its notoriety
“Is it appropriate that his person be thus displayed, enlarged?” asked the Bishop of Besançon in 1959. Pierre Join-Lambert, administrator of Emmaüs, was also worried about this notoriety, particularly when Abbé Pierre was received by General de Gaulle.
He also speaks of a general meeting of the association where “some protested against his presence” with “very painful incidents with tears”.
Abbé Pierre had been interned with a “shock treatment” in 1957 in a psychiatric clinic in Switzerland. When he left, the deputy secretary general of the episcopate wondered if the abbot was “incurable” and if he didn’t have to “find a clinic or asylum that will shelter him for the rest of his days.”
If he recovered, he would then consider placing him “towards a ministry of silent dedication, in the heart of an undernourished country, in a bush hospital, in a village of lepers”. Various constraints had been imposed on him over the years, such as supervision by a counselor or a ban on confessing, for example.
In the file, letters refer to another “dossier” who would belong to the Communist Party (PCF). The latter, interviewed by AFP, assures “not having any trace of it, we looked everywhere, we found nothing”.
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