Beloved priest Abbe Pierre was the conscience of France. Several women now accuse him of assault

PARIS — A legendary French priest and a life-long advocate of the homeless was accused of committing acts that might quantity to “sexual assault or sexual harassment,” the worldwide basis he established stated in an announcement Wednesday.

Abbé Pierre, who died in 2007, was one among France’s most beloved public figures. The founding father of the worldwide Emmaus Group for the poor, Abbé Pierre had served as France’s conscience because the Nineteen Fifties, when he persuaded Parliament to move a regulation — nonetheless on the books — forbidding landlords to evict tenants throughout winter.

A number of girls have accused the late priest of sexual assault or harassment between the tip of the Seventies and 2005, his basis stated in an announcement. It defined that it’s making public the allegations of seven girls, together with one who was a minor on the time of abuse, after reviewing the report of an professional agency, which focuses on violence prevention, that was commissioned to take heed to girls’s testimonies, and analyze them.

“The Emmaus Group is making public the acts that will quantity to sexual assault or sexual harassment, dedicated by Abbé Pierre,” the assertion stated. It added that a number of different girls had “suffered comparable acts” of sexual abuse, however have been unable to be heard. The alleged victims have been workers, volunteers with the muse or a few of its member organizations, or younger girls in Abbé Pierre’s private entourage, the assertion additionally stated.

The inspiration has arrange a confidential system for different potential victims to come back ahead, for “amassing testimonies and offering help to individuals who have been victims of or witnessed unacceptable conduct on the a part of Abbé Pierre,” the assertion additionally stated.

In 2021, an impartial fee on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church estimated that some 330,000 kids have been sexually abused over 70 years by clergymen or different church-related figures in France.