FRANCE
Tru News
One of France’s most senior Catholic clerics on Tuesday denied having covered up acts of pedophilia, his second denial in two weeks, after Prime Minister Manuel Valls demanded that he take responsibility for the situation.
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin’s initial denial came in a statement on March 4 after news that the Lyon prosecutor’s office had opened an inquiry into complaints made against him and five other people.
The prosecutor is investigating whether charges of failure to denounce a crime and endangering the lives of others could be made in the context of a paedophilia investigation involving 70-year-old priest Bernard Preynat.
Preynat has been under investigation since January over allegations of sexual abuse of children between 1986 and 1991.
“Never, never, never have I covered up the least pedophile act,” the Archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, said at a news conference in the southern French town of Lourdes where he was attending a twice-yearly meeting of bishops.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.