French cardinal says he abused girl, then 14

Prelate is withdrawing from duties over his behavior 35 years ago.

PARIS — Cardinal JeanPierre Ricard, one of France’s highest-ranking prelates of the Catholic Church, said Monday that he had abused a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago and is withdrawing from his religious duties.

The move comes after a report issued last year revealed a large number of child sex abuse cases within the French Catholic Church.

“Thirty-five years ago, when I was a priest, I behaved in a reprehensible way with a young girl aged 14,” Ricard said in a written statement.

“My behavior has inevitably caused serious and lasting consequences for this person,” he said.

Ricard, 78, used to be the archbishop of Bordeaux, in southwestern France, until he retired from that position in 2019 to serve in his home diocese of Dignes-les-Bains, in the south of the country. In the 1980s, he was a priest in the archdiocese of Marseille.

The announcement was made Monday at a news conference by the president of the French bishops conference, Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort.

Moulins-Beaufort said a total of 11 bishops and former bishops, including Ricard, have been targeted by sex abuse accusations in diverse cases investigated by French justice or church authorities.

Ricard said he had talked to the victim and asked her for forgiveness, without specifying when. He said that through his statement, he was also asking for forgiveness “to all those I hurt.” He did not elaborate.

At a time when the French Catholic Church has just started to pay financial compensation to victims of child sexual abuse, Ricard said that he decided “not to stay silent anymore about [his] situation” and that he was available for the country’s justice and for church authorities.

The broad study released last year by an independent commission estimated that about 330,000 children were sexually abused over 70 years by priests or other church-related figures in France.

The tally included an estimated 216,000 people abused by priests and other clerics, and the rest by church figures such as scout leaders and camp counselors. The estimates were based on broader scrutiny by France’s National Institute of Health and Medical Research of sexual abuse of children.

The report described a “systemic” cover-up by church officials and urged the French Catholic Church to respect the rule of law.