More than 200,000 French children were sexually abused by priests in 70 years? Jurists have an idea to help the church get back on track: appoint female pastors

Source: Global Times

A report released earlier this month in France was widely condemned for the fact that some 216,000 French children have been subjected to priestly sexual abuse over the past 70 years. According to the British "Sunday Times" reported on the 17th, this scandal has brought great pressure to French social reform, so that the Roman Catholic Church is experiencing one of its "most difficult periods in history".

According to reports, the declining number of parishioners, the prohibition of priests from presiding over same-sex marriages, and the sexual assault scandal have made the French Catholic Church struggling. To quell the storm of sexual assault and help get the church back on track, French theologian and feminist Anne Supa proposed a "simple" solution: appointing a female priest. "The more women there are, the fewer cases of abuse there are, and the Catholic Church is paying a 'catastrophic' price for its rejection of women," she said. Supa launched a petition demanding that 120 bishops in France be held accountable for the sexual assault disclosed in the report and stepped down en masse. "The resignation is a recognition of the gravity of the situation, and we are appalled by the contents of the report, which legitimizes our long-standing ideas about the need for reform," Supa said. ”

The Independent Commission of Inquiry into Church Sexual Assault previously reported that between 1950 and 2020, about 216,000 children were sexually abused in the Catholic Church in France. If non-church persons and perpetrators of crimes working for the church are counted, the number of victims would be as high as 330,000. (Liu Yang)