MULHOUSE (FRANCE)
Stella Maris Media [Aiken SC]
May 31, 2024
A priest of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) has been arrested in France on charges of sexually abusing a boy.
This comes less than two months after fellow SSPX priest Fr. Arnaud Rostand admitted in French court that he molested multiple minors.
FranceInfo is reporting that a priest accused of raping a minor from the age of 9 to 12 was arrested Tuesday at the SSPX Marie-Reine priory in Mulhouse. An investigation was launched Thursday, with authorities banning Radier from access to children and requiring him to report to police once a month.
Stella Maris Media has confirmed the priest is 64-year-old Fr. Jean-Luc Radier.
The charges stem from Radier’s time teaching at Star of the Morning (“L’Etoile du Matin”) Academy in Eguelshardt, Moselle, France, between 1993 and 1995.
Authorities conducted a search of Radier’s residence. The prosecutor, Edwige Roux-Morizot, noted, “Digital material has been collected and will be reviewed during the investigation.”
Father Radier was ordained a priest for the SSPX on June 29, 1989. He was assigned to Star of the Morning Academy in 1991, where he worked under the supervision of Fr. Jacques Laguérie, headmaster from 1979–2001.
Radier returned to the Academy in 2012 to serve as headmaster, leaving in 2020 to be prior in Gastines, and finally returning to the priory in Mulhouse in 2022, where he remains today.
While only one victim has come forward to accuse Radier, it is suspected he has many more. Speaking to police, the victim reportedly said Radier would creep into the boys’ dormitory on an almost-nightly basis in search of victims, “busloads of them,” according to him.
Star of the Morning Academy is the same place where Fr. Patrick Groche, SSPX, is accused of abusing a young Gabonese boy, as covered in Spotlight: Black Trads Matter.
The academy also housed Fr. Pierre de Maillard, SSPX, currently serving prison time for abusing 27 children over the course of 25 years. Maillard has been called France’s “greatest serial pedophile.”