A delegation of Inuits soon in Lyon to request the extradition of Father Rivoire
The delegation should come to Lyon in September, applied our colleagues from Release. They hope to obtain the extradition of Father Rivoire, accused on numerous occasions of pedophile sexual crimes.
The scandal does not stop at the gates of the Ehpad. A resident of an establishment located in the Croix Rousse district of Lyon, Father Johannes Rivoire, 92, is caught up in his past.
At the same time, across the Atlantic, Pope Francis is engaged in a “penitential pilgrimage” during which he should renew his apologies for the role of the Church in the drama of residential schools for Canadian natives. And one of the missionaries was none other than Father Johannes Rivoire, a Frenchman.
Accused of numerous pedophile sexual crimes committed between 1960 and 1992, the religious is the subject of an arrest warrant after the filing of complaints by several of his victims. Facts qualified as cultural genocide in Canada and for which the 92-year-old man can still answer, the presumption does not exist for sexual crimes in this country.
“Presumably, these institutions are doing everything to maintain the haven of silence”
A delegation of Inuit is also expected in Lyon next September, announces Release. From this visit, the victims hope to obtain the extradition of Father Johannes Rivoire, hitherto refused by the French State. For his part, the clergyman has always refuted these accusations.
In this process of reparation, the Inuit can count on the support of François Devaux, the former president of the association “La parole liberated”.
“It would still be good for this man to go and appear before a Canadian court so that the truth can come out, he explains to BFM Lyon. The idea is simple, it is to challenge both the diocese of Lyon, both the Vatican, both the French government so that these people have the right to the truth which sets them free. Presumably, these institutions are doing everything to maintain the casket of silence which imprisons these people in their suffering.”
In Canada, some 150,000 Aboriginal children were forcibly enrolled in more than 130 boarding schools run mostly by the Catholic Church between the end of the 19th century and the 1990s. Up to 6,000 children died in these institutions.