Vatican objects after French court rules in favor of dismissed nun

ROME — The Holy See said Saturday it formally protested to France after a court there ruled a former high-ranking Vatican official was liable for what the court determined to be the wrongful dismissal of a nun from a religious order.

The Lorient tribunal on April 3 ruled in favor of the nun, Sabine de la Valette, known at the time as Mother Marie Ferréol. The court issued a scathing denunciation of the secretive process the Vatican used to kick her out of the order, the Dominicans of the Holy Spirit, after an internal investigation.

The former nun’s attorney, Adeline le Gouvello de la Porte, said the court found the Vatican’s canonical investigation had violated several of the woman’s fundamental rights, including the right to a defense.

The court said she was never told what she was accused of or why she was being kicked out of the order after 34 years as a nun.