The authors of a book published on Thursday, April 17, said that the Vatican knew about accusations of sexual abuse against the icon of French charity Abbé Pierre already in the 1950s. The Catholic clergy that founded the beneficial organization of the Emmaus that is now present in some 40 countries was widely praised for its work for poverty and the homeless people when it died in 2007 at 2007 at the age of 2004.
But in recent months, more than 30 people alleged who committed sexual abuse against them, some when they were Hilden, between 1950 and 2000, destroying their holy image. Prosecutors in February said that a criminal investigation could not be opened because the statute of limitations had expired in all cases.
In his book L’Abé Pierre, the manufacture d’Ant (“Abbé Pierre, The Making of A Saint”), journalists Laetitia Cherel and Marie-France Ethegoin claim that the Vatican knew about some of the accusations for decades. “Already in the fall of 1955, the French clergy not only knew about the dark side and the danger in Abbé Pierre, but also the Holy See,” they wrote.
In the book, they report that the Vatican asked Versailles to launch “a judicial procedure”, but none began. The journalists said they obtained access to declassified Vatican archives that showed that a priest had written to the Holy See in October 1955 to say that Abbé Pierre had done “immoral things” while visiting the United States.
‘Problematic’ behavior
The files also included the minutes of a 1957 meeting on Abbé Pierre, born Henri Groues in 1912. The 10 -page document indicated that two US and Canadian cardinals had alerted the Vatican in 1955, and detailed accusations against Sayor Sayor Sayor Sayorist.
The Vatican asked his ambassador to France at that time to monitor Abbé Pierre, he also suspects having links with communism, he demonstrated. The archives of the French Church, consulted after the scandal broke for the first time last year, show that French religious leaders remained silent about what they called the “problematic” behavior of Abbé Pierre.
Pope Francis said in September that the Vatican had known about the accusations against the figure of French charity, at least since his death in 2007. The conference of bishops of France at that time asked the Vatican to examine his archives before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before before.
The Vatican archives of 1939-1958 that the journalist consulted were declassified in 2020 to allow historians to examine the attitude of the Holy See towards Nazi Germany, said the authors of the book. It contained a blue file entitled “Abbé Pierre”, which one of them said that the possible Vatican did not realize.
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