In the latest scandal to rock the Catholic Church in France, a French bishop, Georges Colomb, has been charged with attempted rape dating back a decade, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office. The Bishops’ Conference of France has stated that Bishop Colomb denies the charges and is entitled to the presumption of innocence. In response to the accusations, Colomb has requested the Vatican relieve him of his duties as the bishop of La Rochelle and Saintes in western France to focus on preparing his defense.
The allegations came to light after an investigative report by French website Mediapart revealed that senior figures in the Catholic Church were aware of the accusations for years. The claims, however, did not reach prosecutors until May of this year, when lawyers for the Archdiocese of Paris and the Catholic group Foreign Missions of Paris (MEP) submitted a report detailing a rape attempt by Colomb in 2013.
Colomb, who headed MEP from 2010 to 2016, was accused of the rape attempt while his accuser was residing in MEP facilities. The accuser’s identity has not been disclosed. Following an investigation, Colomb was detained for questioning last week, and on Friday, magistrates filed a preliminary charge. As part of judicial supervision, Colomb is prohibited from contacting the victim or witnesses pending further investigation.
Gilles Reithinger, an official in MEP at the time of the incident, revealed that the accuser had confided in him about an uncomfortable oil massage proposed by Colomb. However, the accuser did not explicitly mention any sexual misconduct. Reithinger, now the bishop of Strasbourg, raised the issue with Colomb’s superior but did not find grounds to report the incident to prosecutors.
The bishops’ conference expressed concern for the alleged victim in a statement and offered support for all those affected by the news. A lawyer for Colomb has not issued a response to requests for comment.
This latest accusation adds to the growing number of sexual abuse allegations against clergy in France. The country is grappling with a broader issue of decades-long covered-up abuse by church-related figures. In 2021, France’s bishops’ conference agreed to provide reparations after a report estimated that approximately 330,000 children had been sexually abused over 70 years by priests or other church-related figures in the country, based on research by France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research.
Gary P Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
