LONDON (ENGLAND)
The Tablet
Oct. 9, 2019
By Tom Heneghan
‘Successive bishops knew that Bernard Preynat was a criminal pedophile and they chose to keep him in contact with children.’
Victims of sexual abuse by a Lyon priest have urged the Vatican to recognise the responsibility of his archdiocese in the affair, which could open the door to compensation payments by the Church.
About 15 of them sent their demand to the Vatican after the admitted abuser, Bernard Preynat, was removed from the clerical state in July. The archdiocesan court said at the time that he could now concentrate on considering the financial demands of his victims.
More than 20 of his alleged victims have filed for damages of over 10,000 euros each.
But Preynat is insolvent and the archdiocese had no answer to questions about how the victims could otherwise be compensated.
The victims argued in their messages to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the Vatican’s top court, that the archdiocese was responsible for keeping him in ministry until 2015 and thus enabling his abuse.
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