Investigation – Around twenty women have testified to date about sexual assaults by Abbé Pierre, who was threatening towards those who wanted to denounce him
Far from the image of gentleness and benevolence attributed to him, Abbé Pierre was able to be particularly vindictive, even threatening, towards those who wanted to denounce his sexual assaults committed on women.
The investigation unit of Radio France got hold of letters exchanged by Abbé Pierre with some of his contacts who were able to organize several of his trips to America and Canada, in particular. Thus, after a month-long stay in the United States in 1955, during which several women complained about the abbé’s behavior in New York, Chicago and Washington, Suther Marshall, an American student who had co-organized his trip, had subsequently written to one of the close friends of the founder of Emmaüs: “I saw so many things during the trip, the ways of acting of the abbé as an individual. I am thinking, for example, of Chicago, when it had been explicitly decided that the condition of continuing the trip was that the father should never be alone. He agreed and after [il disparaissait] for hours, to the point of being late for a meeting.”
To which Abbé Pierre sent him a threatening letter: “You promised not to get involved in this multitude of things where you only know how to accumulate rava(…) - 20minutes
Also read:
Abbé Pierre accused of sexual assault: Seventeen new testimonies
Abbé Pierre accused of sexual assault: “Fright”, “disgust”… Sister Véronique Margron expresses her “anger”
A letter damning Abbé Pierre found by the diocese of Grenoble-Vienne
