Orleans, France, Nov 23, 2018 / 10:30 am
A French court has sentenced a priest to two years in prison, with a third year suspended, for the sexual abuse of minors. At the same time, the court also handed down a suspended sentence against his former bishop for failing to report an allegation against the priest to civil authorities.
Pierre de Castelet, a retired priest of the diocese of Orléans, was convicted Nov. 22 of sexually abusing several boys under the age of 15 at a summer camp in 1993. One of his victims, Olivier Savignac, came forward to complain to the diocese in 2010, writing a letter to the then-bishop, André Fort. Bishop Fort assured Savignac that de Castelet would be kept from contact with minors but did not forward the complaint to civil authorities.