Pedophilia: Manuel Valls asks the Cardinal Barbarin of “taking responsibility” – Le Figaro

VIDEO – Prime Minister said he did not want to “replace the church” but asked the cardinal, caught in the turmoil of business pedophilia, “speak and act.”

Guest Tuesday on RMC to react on a case of pedophilia in Lyon that shakes the Church of France, the first Minister Manuel Valls hinted at a possible resignation of Cardinal Barbarin, accused of not reporting by victims of pedophile priests. “The only message I can pass without taking its place, without replacing me to the Church of France, without taking the place of the judges, because an investigation is opened today, is to take responsibility. It is for him to take responsibility, speak, and act, “said the tenant of Matignon. “I expect not only words but deeds,” he had said earlier. “Let him take responsibility! I respect the presumption of innocence. I am not a judge, I am head of government, I pay attention to all the words I want to say, but a churchman, Cardinal Primate of the Gauls, who has a moral influence, intellectual, who has a major responsibility in our society must understand the pain, “stressed the Prime Minister.

Since last week, the UDI deputy Yves Jego had ruled that the primate of the Gauls was to” set aside “. “I think for the good of the Church, it would be good that he put aside, at least the time that justice has done its job,” he had said. Deputy Mayor (PS) of the twelfth arrondissement of Paris and LGBT activist Jean-Luc Romero has it demanded the resignation of Cardinal in an article published in the Huffington Post .

But neither the Prime Minister nor the government have the power to remove a bishop. Since the end of the arrangement and Gallicanism, that power is exclusively in the hands of the pope. The bishops can instead give their resignations, as happened repeatedly in cases of pedophilia. Thus, Pope Francis had in 2013 accepted the resignation of an Irish bishop, William Lee, who had admitted having covered a pedophile priest in 2015 and the resignation of a US Bishop Robert Finn, who had done the same.

In the current case, the investigation is still ongoing and there is no evidence at this time that Cardinal Barbarin has wanted to protect the priests in question. In an interview with Paris on Thursday ruled the prelate to resign. “The resignation, for me, is not a current issue,” he said, while assuring the victims of his compassion. “If I am guilty, if I am an” opportunity to scandals, “then there will be seen. Justice will do its job, “he added.

As revealed Monday Le Figaro , a new complaint against Cardinal Barbarin was filed in February concerning pedophile acts up in the early 1990s and always committed by a priest active in Lyon. The complaint, filed by a senior person in the department, is the facts of “endangering the lives of others and incitement to suicide”, also confirms the diocese of Lyon in a statement. It follows an initial complaint in 2009 against the priest, no further action by the court because of the prescription.