Mgr Le Gall, Archbishop of Toulouse: “If a priest confesses to me that he has abused someone, I will report it myself”
The report of the independent commission on sexual abuse in the Church (Ciase), made public Tuesday, October 5 and which reports 216,000 victims assaulted by priests and members of the clergy while they were minors since 1950, notes the “massive” and “systemic” nature of this phenomenon. François Devaux, co-founder of the association “La Parole libérée”, even speaks of “crime against humanity” on the airwaves. Mgr Le Gall, archbishop of the diocese of Toulouse, gives his opinion on this overwhelming report which should lead to “restorative justice”.
What was your reaction to reading the Ciase report?
It was last Tuesday and it was a painful moment. What struck me the most is the little book given at the end, apart, whose title is “From victims to witnesses”. Reading some of these testimonies, I rediscovered what I heard from the victims. I had the opportunity to hear about ten, here in the diocese or during my travels. I remember in particular this woman who had been assaulted in Germany by a priest. Reading this little book stirred in me many difficult moments when I relived the moments with these victims who spoke to me about their suffering and the abject side of men, but also of women. I also received an abuser, four years ago, who writes to me regularly and who became aware of the seriousness of his acts for a certain period of time. He has been excluded from all church service, and he is not in denial.
More than 216,000 victims, that’s a colossal number, how do you feel?
An immense sadness, a deep disgust and a surprise for us who launched a work on this subject for 20 years. Alas, it is not a total surprise, but the surprise is the magnitude of the figures published over seventy years. The Pope echoed this report, but we bishops are overwhelmed. We forgive the victims, because we did not realize the criminal nature of these acts, we did not know how to listen. We see how people are demolished, destroyed. What we must organize is restorative justice. The bishops, because we are the first responsible, but also our communities, must be attentive from now on. Recognize the facts, the magnitude of the facts and their seriousness.
Will the phenomenon further alienate Catholics from the Church?
Obviously. In writing to priests and Christian communities on the occasion of this report, I expressed my amazement, my overwhelming despair and my immense sadness. What is serious is how to be coherent between our mission, our word and our life. Because no human being is perfectly in line with that.
How to react, during a confession, if you learn facts of sexual abuse?
This is an issue raised in the report. We are bound, within the framework of the sacrament of reconciliation and confession, to keep a perpetual secret of what we have heard. If it is a victim, we must of course advise him to file a complaint. A priest of the diocese cannot confess to me in general. If a priest confesses to me that he has abused someone, I report it myself. And it has happened to me once before. Faced with this tsunami, we are all stunned. Today I cannot monitor all the priests in the diocese, nor know what is on their mind, but I can testify that the vast majority are faithful and generous priests in their ministry.
A listening cell for victims and witnesses of sexual abuse in the Church created at the end of 2016 in Toulouse
At the end of 2016, the diocese of Toulouse set up a listening cell for victims and witnesses of sexual abuse in the Church. “This device aims to ensure that people who come to the diocese can find real support and that their suffering can be expressed and heard,” says one. The diocese undertakes to welcome them, listen to them, accompany them and support them on these painful subjects, in all confidence and in all confidentiality ”. The cell teams have since collected 18 testimonies. “What is an act of pedophilia concerned more than 7 people, but the victims were attacked by priests from other dioceses”, specifies the communication service.
In 2016, as a reminder, Bishop Le Gall accepted the resignation of Father Dominique Spina, convicted ten years previously for pedophilia. The priest had served a five-year prison sentence for the rape of a high school student in the diocese of Bayonne. On his release from prison, he was reinstated in the diocese of Toulouse which had assured “to ensure that he is not in contact with children”.