France: Roman Catholic Church Agrees To Sell Part Of Real Estate Holdings To Compensate Thousands of People Sexually Abused By Priests

The Roman Catholic Church in France has agreed to sell part of the Church's considerable real estate holdings to compensate hundreds of thousands of people who had been sexually abused by clergy members.

Catholic Church have been under pressure to compensate victims after a landmark inquiry by an independent commission confirmed large-scale sexual abuse of minors by priests dating from the 1950s to 2020.

Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, head of the Bishops' Conference of France (CEF), said that a new independent commission will be established to evaluate the compensation claims.

"We are going to provide the means to accomplish this mission... of individual indemnities for the victims", he added.

While the Church had already promised to set up a fund to start making compensation payments to the victim, this was the first time it has officially announced plans to sell real estate assets owned by the Bishops' Conference of France and by dioceses.

The commission uncovered that between 2,900 and 3,200 paedophile priests or other members of the church, said Jean-Marc Sauve, adding that it was “a minimum estimate”.

The 2,500-page document prepared by an independent commission comes as the Catholic Church in France, like in other countries, seeks to face up to shameful secrets that were long covered up.

The independent commission was set up in 2018 by the Bishops’ Conference of France (CEF) and the national congregations conference (CORREF) in response to a number of scandals that shook the Church in France and worldwide. The commission worked for 2 1/2 years, listening to victims and witnesses and studying church, court, police and press archives starting from the 1950s