“The terrible sinner is [le pape]Abbé Pierre, he is sick”tackles Saturday September 14 on franceinfo François Devaux, founder of the association “La Parole libérée”, thus responding to the sovereign pontiff who had considered that the founder of Emmaüs, accused by several women of sexual assault, was “a terrible fisherman”The pope spoke Friday on a plane returning from a tour of Southeast Asia and Oceania. He said the Vatican learned of the sexual assault allegations against Abbé Pierre after his death. “He is not trustworthy”reacts François Devaux. “We are in the ultimate betrayal of life and of the weakest”he denounced.
franceinfo: Do you believe the Pope when he says he became aware of the facts after the death of Abbé Pierre?
François Devaux: I believe he is not trustworthy. Twelve letters have been sent to the Pope, at least two of which were hand-delivered to him personally, and he has never responded to any of them. The terrible sinner is him, Abbé Pierre, he is sick. The recommendation of Jesus Christ for these things is a haystack and a bail! We should not mix everything up. We are in the ultimate betrayal of life and of the weakest. It is time for us to turn our backs on this institution.
Do you understand this immobility?
We are very, very far from the zero tolerance that is advocated. It should be noted that the Pope refused to meet with the independent commission on sexual abuse in the Church (CIASE) chaired by Jean-Marc Sauvé, which revealed that 200,000 to 300,000 victims were still alive in France. That means several million across the world. It is the most comprehensive investigation that has been done across the world because there are three research reports and this multidisciplinary commission investigated the causality of these things.
The Pope’s biggest problem is sexual violence within his institution. He avoided meeting with this commission to understand where the problem came from. There are causalities that are very specific to the Catholic Church. The majority of victims are little boys. That’s enough to understand that there is a problem specific to the Catholic Church.
The Church opens its archives on Abbé Pierre, 75 years ahead of schedule. There are signals being sent. Is this positive, in your opinion?
If the Church were no longer afraid of transparency, it would not only open the archives on Abbé Pierre, but on all the facts of sexual assault. The Sauvé Commission has identified thousands of perpetrators. It is not because there is a symbol and victims who speak out that it is necessary to clean it up and do some pseudo work of transparency. There is real in-depth work. All of this was clearly established by the Commission three or four years ago. We are talking about full and complete confession to absolve a sin, but we are still very, very far from that.
Pope Francis announces that he will meet with victims of sexual abuse in Belgium. Is this a strong gesture for you?
I have been in contact with a thousand victims around the world. I went to Chile. We have worked on this subject for years. I know three victims who have met the Pope, they are the Chileans. The others, I do not know them. I have never heard of them. However, I have been in contact with people around the world and we have set up actions around the world. It is always the same, once we are cornered… that is exactly what the Pope does. Now that we have been caught, we must be transparent. It is a little easy and it is very far from the theology and teaching of Jesus Christ.
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