11 French bishops, including a cardinal, accused of sexual violence

France's Catholic church on Monday revealed that 11 former or serving French bishops have been accused of sexual violence or failing to report abuse cases, including a cardinal who confessed to assaulting a girl decades ago.

In a shock revelation, the president of the Bishops' Conference of France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, told reporters that some of the high-ranking church officials faced criminal prosecution, or a church tribunal, or both.

Among them is Jean-Pierre Ricard, a long-standing bishop of Bordeaux who was made a cardinal by Pope Francis in 2016, and who had admitted to a "reprehensible" act on a 14-year-old, de Moulins-Beaufort said.

"Thirty-five years ago, when I was a priest, I behaved in a reprehensible way towards a girl of 14," Ricard wrote in a message to the Conference read out by de Moulins-Beaufort.

"There is no doubt that my behaviour caused serious and long-lasting consequences for that person," the cardinal said, adding that he had since asked the woman for forgiveness.

French bishops are meeting in Lourdes in southwestern France for their autumn conference to discuss ways to improve their communication and transparency regarding historical sex crime allegations against the clergy.

The public confession by Ricard, 78, was received "like a shock" by the bishops, de Moulins-Beaufort said.

Ricard, 78, was bishop in Coutances, Montpellier and finally Bordeaux between 2001 and 2019.

All of the accused will face either prosecution or church disciplinary procedures, said de Moulins-Beaufort, who is the archbishop of the northeastern city of Reims.

He said six former bishops had already been accused of sexual abuse "by the judiciary of our country, or by the judiciary of the church", one of whom had since died.

A broad study released last year by an independent commission estimated that some 330,000 children were sexually abused over 70 years by priests or other church-related figures in France.

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The tally included an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics, and the rest by church figures such as scout leaders and camp counselors. The estimates were based on broader research by France's National Institute of Health and Medical Research into sexual abuse of children.

The report described a “systemic” coverup by church officials and urged the French Catholic Church to respect the rule of law in France.

(with inputs from AP and AFP)