This is an exceptional measure aimed at bringing out the truth. Conference of Bishops of France (CEF) will immediately open its archives to researchers, and in particular to those mandated by Emmaus to investigate Abbé Pierre, suspected of several sexual assaults, announced its president, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, on Thursday.
“Normally there is a 30-year delay before the archives can be consulted, but we have decided to open them to researchers, in particular to the Emmaüs inquiry commission,” he said on RCF and Radio Notre-Dame. These are the archives of the Church of France kept in Issy-les Moulineaux, separate from those of the dioceses.
A “fairly thin file” concerning Abbé Pierre
Regarding Abbé Pierre, they contain “a fairly thin file” with “a few letters” which show that the Central Office of Cardinals at the time “became aware of the behavior” of the priest. “There is an element on the fact that he left for Switzerland” in the 1950s, but without “any details on what happened there”, and “that’s about it”, added the head of the CEF.
As for the degree of knowledge within the Church of these actions, Bishop de Moulins-Beaufort reiterated that he was “unable to say” who knew what. “Certainly, some bishops knew a certain number of facts, but exactly which ones? A historical investigation will be needed to tell, and I strongly encourage the investigation that Emmaüs has just opened,” he added.
The Emmaüs Archives Trail
Following the revelation on September 6 of new testimonies from women accusing Abbé Pierre of sexual assault, Emmaüs announced an independent commission tasked with “explaining the dysfunctions” that allowed him “to act as he did for more than 50 years.”
Bishop de Moulins-Beaufort recalled that Abbé Pierre “did not live in an ecclesiastical framework, he lived with Emmaus” and “it is on this side that there are archives. It is above all through this that we must try to understand.”
“In the 1950s, when this behavior began to become known, it worried many people and the Church tried to help him by imposing a psychiatric stay in Switzerland” and a companion. “Apparently, Abbé Pierre always managed to get around this. But I wouldn’t say that the Church did nothing,” he said.