Cardinal admits sexual abuse of teenage girl

A retired French cardinal has offered to hand himself into the police after he admitted to abusing a 14-year-old girl nearly four decades ago.

WelCom December 2022

A retired French cardinal has offered to hand himself into the police after he admitted to abusing a 14-year-old girl nearly four decades ago. Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, who stepped down as Archbishop of Bordeaux in 2019, issued a statement confessing his guilt and expressing regret for the harm he had done to the victim. According to Reuters news agency, the cardinal said he would withdraw from any remaining functions in the Church and make himself available to statutory and ecclesiastical authorities. Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort of Rheims, president of the French bishops’ conference, said charges have been filed with the attorney general and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in response to Cardinal Ricard’s confession.