Abbé Pierre is the target of nine new accusations of sexual violence, including rape of a minor and facts concerning at least one member of his family, according to the latest report from the specialist firm Egaé. One of his victims testifies at the microphone of RMC.
The Egaé cabinet, mandated by Emmaüs to investigate the accusations against the actions of Abbé Pierre, published a third report on Monday January 13, 2024: nine new testimonies were collected. The victims denounce in particular sexual assaults, rape of a minor and a case of incest, suffered between the 60s and the beginning of the 2000s.
This brings to 33 the number of testimonies targeting Abbé Pierre, who died in 2007. And according to Egaé, the latest testimonies “absolutely do not allow us to draw up an exhaustive inventory of Abbé Pierre's behavior”. Around twenty others, these “sometimes anonymous or incomplete”, were received, bringing the total number of accusations against the priest to more than 50.
“The accumulation of facts now known perpetrated by this priest, who was so admired, is horrifying,” we can read in a press release from the Conference of Bishops of France.
“Each institution has found its benefit in this silence”
RMC collected the anonymous testimony of a woman who explains having been a victim of the actions of Abbé Pierre. This person, who prefers to remain anonymous, was an employee of Emmaus International from the 1970s. She explains that it was during this period that she was attacked for the first time by the priest.
“I meet Abbot Pierre at the foot of a staircase and he begins to grope my left breast. He also rests his head against my left shoulder. I remember not reacting, nor moving, nor speaking. He didn’t say a word either,” she says.
More than ten years later, Abbot Pierre tries, she says, new touches. Today, she wants to separate the man, the aggressor, from his good works, but she still remains incomprehensible: “How could Abbot Pierre commit such things? And he didn’t just do it once…”
Another terrifying testimony for his sister Véronique Margron, president of the “Conference of Religious of France”, CORREF. She denounces a “conspiracy of silence” and now wants investigative work.
“We must try to understand the responsibilities of ecclesiastical institutions, of Emmaus, and perhaps of state authorities. Everyone found their benefit in this silence. For me, there is something to go and see,” she says. According to her, the Church and Emmaus should analyze their archives and identify dysfunctions so that this no longer happens.
Six months to the day after the first revelations against the actions of Abbé Pierre, the president of the Conference of Bishops of France, Monseigneur Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, will be the guest of Apolline de Malherbe. He will return this Friday morning to the new accusations of sexual violence targeting the priest.
There is a dedicated number, 01 41 83 42 17created by the Conference of Bishops of France and CORREF with the France Victimes association with independent victim assistance professionals.
