調查報告出爐~發現約有33.3萬名兒童在法國天主教會內受到性侵

 美國東部時間10月5日上午18:23

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 委員會主席Jean-Marc Sauve（左）在一個獨立委員會星期二在巴黎發表報告時，將報告副本交給法國主教會議主席Eric de Moulins-Beaufort天主教主教。

Thomas Coex/AP

 巴黎--根據週二發佈的一份報告，在過去的70年裡，估計有33萬名兒童是法國天主教會內部性侵害的受害者，該報告是該國對這一世界性現象的首次重大統計。

據發佈報告的委員會主席讓-馬克-索維（Jean-Marc Sauvé）說，這一數字包括約3000名牧師和其他與教會有關的人員的性虐待行為--天主教當局幾十年來以 "系統的方式 "掩蓋了這些錯誤行為。調查發現，考慮到教會非專業成員（例如天主教學校的教師）所犯的虐待行為，法國受虐待的兒童人數可能會上升到 330,000 人。獨立調查於 2018 年由法國天主教會委託進行。 它花了兩年半的時間梳理法庭、警察和教會記錄，並與受害者和證人交談。這份長達近 2,500 頁的報告稱，“絕大多數”受害者是男孩，其中許多人的年齡在 10 至 13 歲之間。雖然委員會發現了多達 3,200 名施虐者的證據——在總共 115,000 名牧師和其他神職人員中——但它表示這可能是低估了。

報告說：“天主教會是繼家人和朋友圈之後，性暴力發生率最高的環境。”

報告稱，法國主教團團長請求受害者原諒，其中約80%是男孩。主教們將在星期二開會討論下一步行動。

 獨立委員會敦促教會採取強有力的行動，譴責 "過失 "和 "沉默"。它還呼籲天主教會幫助賠償受害者，特別是在那些年齡太大無法通過法院起訴的案件中。

"Sauvé說："後果非常嚴重。"大約60%受到性虐待的男性和女性在情感或性生活方面遇到重大問題"。

我們認為教會對受害者負有責任，"他補充說。

這份2500頁的檔是在法國天主教會像其他國家一樣，尋求面對長期以來被掩蓋的可恥秘密時發佈的。

受害者們對這份報告表示歡迎，認為早該如此了。

受害者團體La Parole Libérée（解放之言）的負責人弗朗索瓦-德沃（Francois Devaux）說，這是 "我們歷史上的一個轉捩點"。

他譴責教會允許 "幾十年來大規模犯罪 "的掩蓋行為。

"他說："但更糟糕的是，存在著一種背叛：背叛信任、背叛道德、背叛兒童、背叛純真。

受害者協會Parler et Revivre (Speak Out and Live Again)的負責人奧利維爾-薩維尼亞克(Olivier Savignac)對調查做出了貢獻。他告訴美聯社，受害者與施暴者的比例之高，對 "法國社會和天主教會來說，尤其令人恐懼"。

薩維尼亞克抨擊教會將此類案件視為個別異常情況，而不是集體恐怖。他描述了13歲時被法國南部一個天主教度假營的主任虐待的情況，該主任被指控侵犯了其他幾個男孩。

薩維尼亞克說："我認為這個牧師是個好人，是個有愛心的人，不會傷害我。"但是，當我發現自己在那張床上半裸著，他在撫摸我時，我才意識到有些事情是不對的，....，我們保留這個，它就像一個生長的囊腫。它就像受害者身體內的壞疽，以及受害者的心理。"

該牧師最終被認定犯有兒童性侵犯罪，並在2018年被判處兩年監禁，其中一年緩期執行。

該委員會工作了兩年半，聽取了受害者和證人的意見，並研究了從20世紀50年代開始的教會、法院、員警和新聞檔案。審查開始時開通的一條熱線收到了6500個據稱是受害者或自稱認識受害者的人的電話。

 Sauvé譴責教會在2000年代初之前的態度是 "對受害者深深地、殘酷地漠視"。

報告稱，在這七十年間，估計有3000名性虐待兒童的人--其中三分之二是牧師--在教會工作。Sauvé說，這個數字很可能是一個低估值。他說，受害者的統計數字包括估計有216,000人被牧師和其他神職人員性虐待。

這些估計是基於法國國家衛生和醫學研究所領導的對法國人口中兒童性虐待的研究。

"Sauvé說："有時教會官員沒有譴責（性虐待），甚至將兒童置於風險之中，讓他們與掠奪者接觸。"我們認為......教會對受害者有責任。"

法國主教會議主席埃裡克-德-穆蘭-博福特說，主教們對報告的結論 "感到震驚"。

"他對受害者說："我希望在這一天請求寬恕，寬恕你們每個人。

索維說，22個可以追究的被控罪行已經轉交給檢察官。有40多起案件因年代久遠而無法起訴，但涉及仍在世的犯罪嫌疑人，這些案件已被轉交給教會官員。

該委員會就如何防止性虐待行為提出了45項建議。這些建議包括培訓牧師和其他神職人員，修訂《教會法》--梵蒂岡用來管理教會的法律準則--以及制定承認和賠償受害者的政策。

這份報告是在圍繞現已被開除的牧師伯納德-普賴納的醜聞震撼了法國天主教會之後發佈的。去年，普賴納被判定對未成年人進行性侵，並被判處五年監禁。他承認幾十年來性侵犯超過75名男孩。

普賴納案件導致前里昂大主教Philippe Barbarin樞機主教于去年辭職，他被指控在2010年代得知這些性虐待行為時沒有向民事當局報告。

法國大主教們在全國各地周日彌撒期間向教友們宣讀的資訊中說，報告的公佈是 "對真理的考驗，是一個艱難而嚴肅的時刻"。

 教皇法蘭西斯在2019年5月頒佈了一項開創性的新教會法，要求全世界所有天主教神父和修女向教會當局報告神職人員的性虐待和上級的掩蓋行為。

6月，方濟各迅速拒絕了德國最傑出的神職人員之一、教皇的親密顧問萊因哈德-馬克思紅衣主教提出的辭去慕尼克和弗賴辛大主教職務的提議，因為教會對性虐待案件處理不當。但他說，改革的過程是必要的，每一位主教都必須對危機的 "災難 "負責。

About 333,000 children were abused within Frances Catholic Church, a report finds

October 5, 20218:23 AM ET

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 Commission president Jean-Marc Sauve (left) hands copies of the report to Catholic Bishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the Bishops Conference of France (CEF), during the publishing of a report by an independent commission on Tuesday in Paris.

Thomas Coex/AP

PARIS — An estimated 330,000 children were victims of sex abuse within Frances Catholic Church over the past 70 years, according to a report released Tuesday that represents the countrys first major accounting of the worldwide phenomenon.

 The figure includes abuses committed by some 3,000 priests and other people involved in the church — wrongdoing that Catholic authorities covered up over decades in a "systemic manner," according to the president of the commission that issued the report, Jean-Marc Sauvé.

 The head of the French bishops conference asked for forgiveness from the victims, about 80% of whom were boys, according to the report. The bishops are meeting Tuesday to discuss next steps.

 The independent commission urged the church to take strong action, denouncing "faults" and "silence." It also called on the Catholic Church to help compensate the victims, notably in cases that are too old to prosecute via the courts.

 The consequences are very serious," Sauvé said. "About 60% of men and women who were sexually abused encounter major problems in their emotional or sexual life."

 "We consider the church has a debt towards victims," he added.

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 The 2,500-page document was issued as the Catholic Church in France, like in other countries, seeks to face up to shameful secrets that were long covered up.

 Victims welcomed the report as long overdue.

 Francois Devaux, head of the victims group La Parole Libérée (The Liberated Word), said it was "a turning point in our history."

 He denounced the coverups that permitted "mass crimes for decades."

 "But even worse, there was a betrayal: betrayal of trust, betrayal of morality, betrayal of children, betrayal of innocence," he said, calling on the church for compensation.

 Olivier Savignac, the head of victims association Parler et Revivre (Speak Out and Live Again), contributed to the investigation. He told The Associated Press that the high ratio of victims per abuser was particularly "terrifying for French society, for the Catholic Church."

 Savignac assailed the church for treating such cases as individual anomalies instead of as a collective horror. He described being abused at age 13 by the director of a Catholic vacation camp in the south of France who was accused of assaulting several other boys.

 "I perceived this priest as someone who was good, a caring person who would not harm me," Savignac said. "But it was when I found myself on that bed half-naked and he was touching me that I realized something was wrong....And we keep this, its like a growing cyst. Its like gangrene inside the victims body and the victims psyche."

 The priest eventually was found guilty of child sexual abuse and sentenced in 2018 to two years in prison, with one year suspended.

 The commission worked for 2 1/2 years, listening to victims and witnesses and studying church, court, police and news archives starting from the 1950s. A hotline launched at the beginning of the review received 6,500 calls from alleged victims or people who said they knew a victim.

 Sauvé denounced the churchs attitude until the beginning of the 2000s as "a deep, cruel indifference toward victims."

 The report says an estimated 3,000 child abusers - two-thirds of them priests - worked in the church during the seven-decade period. That figure is likely to be an underestimate, Sauvé said. The tally of victims includes an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics, he said.

 The estimates are based on research led by Frances National Institute of Health and Medical Research into sexual abuse of children in the French population.

 "Sometimes church officials did not denounce (sex abuses) and even exposed children to risks by putting them in contact with predators," Sauvé said. "We consider ... the church has a debt toward victims."

 The president of the Conference of Bishops of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, said the bishops "are appalled" at the conclusions of the report.

 "I wish on that day to ask for pardon, pardon to each of you," he told the victims.

 Sauvé said 22 alleged crimes that can be pursued have been forwarded to prosecutors. More than 40 cases that are too old to be prosecuted but involve alleged perpetrators who are still alive have been forwarded to church officials.

 The commission issued 45 recommendations about how to prevent abuse. These included training priests and other clerics, revising Canon Law — the legal code the Vatican uses to govern the church — and fostering policies to recognize and compensate victims.

 The report comes after a scandal surrounding now-defrocked priest Bernard Preynat rocked the French Catholic Church. Last year, Preynat was convicted of sexually abusing minors and given a five-year prison sentence. He admitted abusing more than 75 boys for decades.

 The Preynat case led to the resignation last year of the former archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who has been accused of failing to report the abuses to civil authorities when he learned about them in the 2010s. French archbishops, in a message to parishioners read during Sunday Mass across the country, said the publication of the report is "a test of truth and a tough and serious moment."

 Pope Francis issued in May 2019 a groundbreaking new church law requiring all Catholic priests and nuns around the world to report clergy sexual abuse and cover-ups by their superiors to church authorities.

 In June, Francis swiftly rejected an offer from Cardinal Reinhard Marx, one of Germanys most prominent clerics and a close papal adviser, to resign as archbishop of Munich and Freising over the churchs mishandling of abuse cases. But he said a process of reform was necessary and every bishop must take responsibility for the "catastrophe" of the crisis