French cardinal Philippe Barbarin cleared on appeal of covering up sex abuse
- Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon was appealing against the conviction and six-month suspended sentence he received after an initial trial in March
- The 69-year-old was accused of failing to inform authorities of repeated allegations against a priest suspected of abusing children in the 1980s
A French appeal court on Thursday overturned the conviction of the country's top Catholic clergyman for failing to report allegations of child sex abuse by a priest.
The 69-year-old cardinal was accused of failing to inform authorities of repeated allegations against a priest who is suspected of having abused dozens of children in the 1980s.
Barbarin offered to resign as archbishop of Lyon after his conviction, but Pope Francis rejected his resignation pending the appeal.
The appeal court's ruling is in line with the requests of prosecutors.
At the initial trial they argued that all the evidence against him either related to events which were beyond the statute of limitations, or did not prove an offence had been committed.
Prosecutors had already dropped a preliminary investigation into the cardinal's alleged offences in 2016, but the case was brought to court by a victim's association.
The ex-priest accused of the acts of abuse, Bernard Preynat, was tried earlier this month and the verdict is expected on March 16.
At his trial, Preynat admitted numerous sexual assaults on boys while he was chaplain to a scout troop in the 1980s, according to public broadcaster FranceInfo.
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Prosecutors have sought a sentence of at least eight years against him.
Barbarin became archbishop of Lyon in 2002, long after Preynat's alleged offences, which apparently ended when allegations against him were brought to the attention of church authorities in 1991 and he was transferred to another parish.
At the start of his trial last year, the cardinal declared his innocence, saying: “I've never tried to hide these terrible deeds, let alone cover them up.”
But one victim of the alleged abuse testified that he had turned to Barbarin for help in 2014.
Barbarin had previously said in an interview that he had already known about the allegations back in 2007, and that Preynat had told him that nothing more had happened after 1991, a claim he had investigated.
Barbarin's lawyer, Andre Soullier, said he was “more than satisfied” with the appeal verdict.
“I am going to end up believing in angels,” he told journalists after the judgment was handed down, adding that for him, the cardinal was “a holy man”.
Francois Devaux, head of the victim's association that brought the case against Barbarin, said he still did not think it had been in vain.
“I think that everyone is in agreement, all the same, that a sort of awakening of conscience has emerged from all this,” he said.
Last year Pope Francis summoned church leaders from around the world to a crisis meeting in the Vatican, and vowed that the church would stop covering up the crimes of paedophile priests “as was usual in the past”.
