Vatican City, Jun 21, 2023 / 11:45 am
French bishops announced Wednesday that the newly established National Canonical Criminal Tribunal will open an investigation into alleged abuse by clerics connected to the Paris Foreign Mission Society.
The French bishops’ conference said in a statement on June 21 that the official investigation has come at the request of the superior general of the Paris Foreign Mission Society.
The announcement comes after three French Catholic news outlets — La Croix, La Vie, and Famille Chrétienne — published a joint investigation into three cases of alleged abuse by priests connected with the society, which has a more than 350-year history of sending missionary priests to evangelize Asia.
The reports allege that Bishop Georges Colomb of La Rochelle and Saintes, a former superior of the society, sexually assaulted an adult man in 2013.