PARIS (FRANCE)
Le Monde [Paris, France]
January 23, 2026
By Violaine Morin and Sarah Belouezzane
France’s Catholic school federation announced Thursday the closure of the establishment, targeted by numerous complaints of violence and rape from former students. Separate authorities denied this just hours later. In practice, the school is likely to come under new supervision.
“Bétharram will close, there is no other option,” Pierre-Vincent Guéret, president of French Catholic school federation FNOGEC, announced in a radio interview on Thursday, January 22. The announcement of the closure of the Notre-Dame-de-Bétharram private school, which was renamed Le Beau Rameau in 2009 and which still counts around 200 middle school students, caused a stir.
The institution, located a few kilometers from Pau in southwest France, has become infamous as a site of abuse, sexual assault and rape of students over several decades. In total, nearly 250 complaints have been filed, half of them relating to sexual abuse. “The name Bétharram must be consigned to the dustbin of history,” Guérat said, mentioning a move scheduled for summer 2026.
Guéret’s statements clearly took even those within the Catholic school network by surprise. Just a few hours after his announcement, France’s main administrative body for Catholic education issued a statement assuring “there is no question of closing Bétharram at this stage.” “The president of FNOGEC spoke a little too hastily about one of the options under consideration,” Guillaume Prévost, the body’s secretary general, told Le Monde. “We are considering several solutions to address the failings of an institution, while protecting the people who currently serve it and…