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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.
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 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.
The Preynat case is the latest in a long list of abuse cases, and related allegations of cover-ups by church officials, dogging the Catholic Church worldwide.
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”.


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France

French cardinal Philippe Barbarin cleared on appeal of covering up sex abuse

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin pictured in January last year. Photo: AFP

Andre Soulier, lawyer of French cardinal Philippe Barbarin answers journalists questions on January 30, 2020 at Lyon's courthouse, after appeals judges overturned his client's conviction for failing to report alleged sex abuse by a priest, in a case that has rocked the French Catholic Church. - Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, 69, had been given a six-month suspended jail sentence last March for not reporting that a priest in his diocese had allegedly abused dozens of boy scouts in the 1980s and 1990s. (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP)

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin 's lawyer Jean Felix Luciani answers reporters at the Lyon courthouse, central France, after a French appeals court acquitted French cardinal Philippe Barbarin of covering up the sexual abuse of minors in his flock, Thursday, Jan.30, 2020. Behind are striking lawyers denouncing French President Emmanuel Macron's plans to overhaul the pension system (AP Photo/Laurent Cirpriani)

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Former Pope Benedict wants his name removed as co-author of a new book on the issue of priestly celibacy. Photo; DPA

Former Pope Benedict had vowed to live ‘hidden from the world’ when he stepped down as pope. File photo: EPA

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Cardinal George Pell loses appeal in Australian court on child sex abuse charges

George Pell arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. Photo: Reuters

George Pell arrives at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne, Australia, August 21, 2019. AAP Images/Erik Anderson via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVE. AUSTRALIA OUT. NEW ZEALAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN NEW ZEALAND. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN AUSTRALIA.

People queue up to enter the court as Australian Cardinal George Pell is escorted into the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on August 21, 2019. - An Australian court will rule on George Pell's appeal against child sex abuse charges, when the convicted cardinal could walk free or begin a new round in his protracted legal fight. (Photo by Asanka Brendon RATNAYAKE / AFP)

Protestors holding placards outside the court building as Australian Cardinal George Pell is escorted into the Supreme Court of Victoria in Melbourne on August 21, 2019. - Convicted paedophile cardinal George Pell had his appeal against child sex abuse charges rejected by an Australian court. (Photo by Asanka Brendon RATNAYAKE / AFP)

Pope Francis removes shroud of secrecy from Catholic Church sex abuse investigations

Pope Francis pictured arriving at Saint Peter's Square, in the Vatican. Photo: Reuters

(FILES) In this file photo taken on November 7, 2010 Italian bishop Luigi Ventura, the Apostolic Nuncio to France, attends a mass 7, 2010 in Lourdes, southern France, as part of the annual Plenary session of French bishops. - Vatican diplomat Luigi Ventura -- who is already under investigation in France over alleged sexual assault -- is now facing a similar complaint in Canada, the Holy See's embassy in Ottawa said March 1, 2019. Luigi Ventura, currently the Vatican's envoy to France, has been accused of molesting an official at the Paris mayor's office. The 74-year-old Italian archbishop served as the envoy to Canada from 2001 to 2009. He now faces a "single" complaint filed in Ottawa, the embassy told AFP, adding that the complaint has been reported to officials in Vatican City. (Photo by REMY GABALDA / AFP)

Archbishop Charles Scicluna looks on during a press conference prior to a meeting with people who claim to have been victims of sexual abuse by members of the Church, in Santiago, Chile, Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2018. Scicluna, arrived in Chile on Monday, sent by the Pope Francis to gather testimonies accusing the Archbishop of Osorno of covering up sexual abuses committed by priest Fernando Karadima. (AP Photo/ Luis Hidalgo)

Pope Francis replaces Santiago bishop Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati amid Chile’s worsening sex abuse cover-up scandal

Chilean Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa07457990 (FILE) - Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati (L) with Pope Francis (R) arrive for a session of the two-week bishops' meeting on family issues, at the Vatican City, Vatican, 05 October 2015 (reissued 23 March 2019). Media reports state on 23 March 2019, that Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, Archbishop of Santiago, Chile, who faces multiple charges over allegations that he covered up cases of clerical sexual abuse. Bishop Celestino Aos Braco has been named by the pontiff as 'apostolic administrator' to run the archdiocese until a new archbishop appointment to succeed Ezzati, media added. EPA-EFE/GIUSEPPE LAMI *** Local Caption *** 52292857

Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, the archbishop of Santiago, talks using his hand during a news conference, in Santiago, Chile, Saturday, March 23, 2019. Pope Francis on Saturday replaced Ezzati as archbishop of Santiago, after he was placed under criminal investigation in the country's spiraling church sex abuse and cover-up scandal. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

FILE -- In this Saturday, Feb.22, 2014 file photo, newly-elected Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati Andrello, Archbishop of Santiago, Chile, holds his papal Bull of the Creation of Cardinals and wears the red three-cornered biretta hat during a consistory inside the St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. Pope Francis has replaced Cardinal Ricardo Ezzati, the embattled archbishop of Santiago, Chile, after he became embroiled in the country's spiraling sex abuse and cover-up scandal. Francis on Saturday, March 23, 2019, accepted Ezzati's resignation and named a temporary replacement to govern Chile's most important archdiocese: the current bishop of Copiapo, Monsignor Celestino Aos Braco. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)

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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


Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon was appealing against the conviction and six-month suspended sentence he received after an initial trial in March
