At the same time, the Abbé Pierre Foundation will change its name and logo, the priest’s grave in Esteville will be closed to the public and an independent commission made up of historians will be set up to investigate the actions of the abbé which were allegedly committed over more than fifty years.
Abbé Pierre accused of sexual assault: “There is an element that he went to Switzerland”, the Church opens its doors
The Vatican was aware
In a new twist in this affair, our Swiss colleagues from RTS have released from the archives the testimony of Grisélidis Réal, a prostitute from Geneva who claimed to have seen Abbé Pierre in a brothel.It was Abbé Pierre, I saw him…“. These statements were made in 1990 on the set of “Ciel mon mardi!”, a show broadcast on TF1 and presented by Christophe Dechavanne. At the time, this woman’s testimony was not taken seriously, but the current events surrounding Henri Grouès (the birth name of Abbé Pierre, Editor’s note) would give more credence to these statements.
According to our colleagues, the priest had a relationship with a woman who was part of the Emmaus Geneva community. For its part, the community denies the facts.
More recently, in a column published in The Worldthe president of the Conference of Bishops of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, explains that the actions of Abbé Pierre had been well known to all for a long time. Several bishops were apparently informed in the mid-fifties of the abuses committed by the French priest.
This Friday, September 13, the Vatican confirmed that it was aware of the abbot’s actions but only after his death.
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