FRANCE
The Tablet
August 30, 2018
By Tom Heneghan
A French priest and canon law judge has publicly urged Cardinal Philippe Barbarin to step down as the Archbishop of Lyon over the sexual abuse scandal, saying that Francis’ “Letter to the People of God” had inspired him to speak out.
Within a week of the open letter by Fr Pierre Vignon, a judge of the Lyon ecclesiastical court since 1993, a petition supporting his call, which two victims’ rights activists had launched, had gathered more than 90,000 signatures.
Asked about the petition, Church spokesman Mgr Olivier Ribadeau Dumas said that all Catholics should combat sexual abuse, not just the bishops.
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