Cardinal Philippe Barbarin to Stand Trial in Sex Scandal Cover-up Case

La Croix
April 5, 2018

https://international.la-croix.com/news/cardinal-philippe-barbarin-to-stand-trial-in-sex-scandal-cover-up-case/7296

A French cardinal and a high-ranking Vatican official are to stand trial for allegedly covering up a child sex abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Lyon.Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, Archbishop Luis Ladaria Ferrer, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and five other Catholic Church officials are to appear in court for allegedly being informed of a priest's past abuses and not reporting them to authorities.A Lyon court on April 4 set the date to Jan. 7-9, 2019 for the criminal trial, the most prominent church sex abuse case to date in France, reports the Associated Press. The case was earlier postponed because Archbishop Ladaria Ferrer’s subpoena and some of the case materials were not translated in due time into Spanish and Italian.Cardinal Barbarin and some of the other defendants stand accused of leaving the priest in contact with children, knowing he had a history of sexual assault. The priest retired in 2015. The cardinal has admitted to some "mistakes" in the management and nomination of certain priests but has denied any attempt to cover up the case, the report said. If convicted, the defendants could face up to three years in prison and a 45,000-euro ($53,000) fine. The penalty would be increased to up to five years in prison and a 75,000-euro fine for failing to help a person in danger.The victims, now in their 30s and 40s, claimed that Father Bernard Preynat sexually abused them when they were boy scouts aged between 7 and 12 in the Lyon region between 1986 and 1991.This was before Barbarin was appointed archbishop of Lyon in 2002.Other abuses by the same priest were reported to local church officials and judicial authorities but he could not be taken to court because of the statute of limitations. Preynat, now in his 70s, has confessed his wrongdoings.