But recent revelations of sexual misconduct by a cardinal and a bishop on Moulins-Beaufort's watch show how complicated, time-consuming and personal stamping out abuse can be.

These new cases, which come a year after a report that estimated that France had seen 330,000 ordained and lay abusers since 1950, have tangled Moulins-Beaufort in a web, caught between falling public confidence in the bishops' ability to solve the problem — which only increases the pressure to act — and a pope who firmly condemns clerical sexual abuse but offers only vague guidance when faced with concrete cases.

The revelations last week, both involving popular and well-respected clerics, were bigger than any cases to date.

Bishop Michel Santier of Créteil, an eastern suburb of Paris, had a reputation as a prelate open to other faiths and to people sidelined in the church. In 2020, he took early retirement, citing health reasons, but it turned out he had admitted to Pope Francis in 2019 that he had made at least two young men do a striptease as part of a confession.

Only after Santier later repeated his admission to his successor did the Vatican impose canonical restrictions on him.

The story finally came out in a Catholic magazine in October, forcing Moulins-Beaufort to acknowledge that he also knew the facts but could not publicize them because the Vatican hadn't.

Three weeks later, Moulins-Beaufort read out a letter from Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, who was twice elected head of the French bishops' conference in the 2000s, confessed that he had "acted in a reprehensible way with a 14-year-old girl" 35 years ago.

When Moulins-Beaufort unveiled the Ricard scandal, it came to light that several church leaders had been informed but had taken months to inform French law enforcement or the Vatican.

Bishop Dominique Blanchet, who took over from Santier, later described how he tried to keep a distance from his popular predecessor without divulging the reason. "I was in an untenable position," he said.

French Catholic leaders initially played down clerical abuse when news of U.S. cases made headlines in The Boston Globe two decades ago, but the issue has now gone far beyond the "few bad apples" stage.

"Neither ordination nor honours protect someone from making mistakes, including some legally serious ones," a worn-down Moulins-Beaufort said at the end of the French bishops' Nov. 3-8 plenary session in Lourdes. "Every person can be haunted by troubled forces that he does not always manage to control."

Yet Santier's and Ricard's cases show that the problem is as much one of transparency as of troubled priests. "Your trust has been betrayed. You feel anger, sadness, amazement. These feelings are legitimate," Rennes Archbishop Pierre d'Ornellas told parishioners in the Breton town of Montfort-sur-Meu.

D'Ornellas chose that parish because its pastor had just been jailed in Paris for yet another sexual abuse case. The Rev. Yannick Poligné, who is HIV-positive, was charged with aggravated rape, drug use and endangering the life of a 15-year-old male he met through the gay app Grindr.

At the news conference unveiling the Ricard scandal, Moulins-Beaufort said the total of French bishops involved in sexual abuse cases was now 11. But he mixed up the cases — for example, including those charged with nondenunciation of an abusive priest with prelates who actually abused victims — and thus created further distrust of the bishops in general.

Three bishops were not named, meaning more revelations may come soon. A church spokesman would only say that two were being investigated by French authorities and the Vatican, while the third had been reported to the French and restricted by the Vatican in his ministry.

The Rev. Hans Zollner, a Catholic expert on sexual abuse based in Rome, said: "The French bishops' conference should communicate names, if this is legally possible. Without this, there is a risk of bringing widespread suspicion to bear on everyone. … This is a rule of communication that we have not yet learned."

"How can we still believe that the church will get out of this, that it has the means to reform itself, when it is so deeply affected itself?" asked Isabelle de Gaulmyn, an editor and former Vatican correspondent for the Catholic daily newspaper La Croix.

"What do we see on the part of this ‘elite,' supposedly chosen carefully by the pope and his advisers? Perversion for some — serious, profound and criminal perversion. And for the others, an incomprehensible laxity that leads to immense helplessness."

• Tom Heneghan is an author at Religion News Service.
• First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

But the 56-year-old Jesuit priest, who is director of the Institute of Anthropology at the Rome-based Gregorian University, believes the CEF should also publish the names of those bishops in order to avoid creating a general suspicion of the entire hierarchy.

He explained further in this exclusive interview with La Croix's Loup Besmond de Senneville.

What's your reaction to the revelations made by the French bishops' this week?

Hans Zollner: First of all, I'm really shocked and surprised.

This brings to light a vast failure of the institution over the course of decades. That's very clear. But paradoxically, I also see a big step forward in this move by the French bishops, even if it comes quite late.

However, there's an essential dimension that's missing: the French Bishops' Conference should publish the names, if this is legally possible.

Without this, there is a risk of creating a generalized suspicion of all bishops.

We must always admit and tell the truth, with the necessary clarity.

Should we move towards transparency of canonical sanctions?

This is a debate that has been going on for years.

It seems clear to me that decisions should be published according to the rules of transparency invoked at the summit on sexual abuse that Pope Francis convened at the Vatican in 2019.

As we can see, we're fooling ourselves if we think we can hide things in the digital age; sooner or later, things come and there's a scandal.

This is a rule of communication that we have not yet learned.

Should changes be made?

Yes, they must be made.

We in the Church have not yet understood how communication works in today's world.

We have to keep in mind that things always come out sooner or later.

Therefore, we must be transparent and sincere while respecting civil law.

As far as the transparency of canonical sanctions is concerned, it is also necessary that the victims have access to them.

This is not the case today.

Should the processes for appointing bishops be reviewed?

We have to differentiate between the issues.

On the one hand, we can never force someone to tell the truth if they do not want to reveal it.

This means that if a candidate has committed prejudicial acts and no one says so, and he does not reveal them himself, no bishop appointment process can take this into account.

On the other hand, changes could be considered for the groups of those questioning the candidate, for example, by turning to people outside ecclesial circles who have known or collaborated with the candidate for the episcopate, even in other contexts.

• Loup Besmond de Senneville has been a journalist with La Croix since 2011 and a permanent correspondent at the Vatican since 2020.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.