France: 450 victims of sexual violence within the Catholic Church have been identified

In one year, 450 victims of sexual violence within the Catholic Church were recognized in France and are supported by the Committee for Recognition and Rehabilitation (CRR), of which 36 have received financial compensation, according to data released today by this authority.

This structure was created at the end of 2021 after the Sauvé commission’s colafo report, which revealed the extent of sexual crimes with child victims within the Catholic Church since 1950.

Its aim is to register requests for financial compensation or reparations of a non-financial nature, from victims rapists within the Catholic Church and then to propose mediation between the two sides.

To assist in the process, CRR has created questionnaires and tables of proposed amounts of money, ranging from 5,000 to 60,000 euros.

In total, “450 victims are recognized and supported” from one of the 25 commissioners of the CRR, the commission points out in a press release issued after almost a year of its operation. For these 450 cases, CRR ‘dmade 80 recommendations for compensation» in institutions, which included both the financial side and a non-financial side.

And in these 80 cases, “the average compensation is 40,000 euros“, its president Antoine Garappon clarified to AFP, as relayed by the Athens News Agency.

Among the 80 recommendations, 37 cases were “closed”: for 36 financial compensations have been paid. One victim did not seek financial compensation, according to CRR. For the other 43, CRR issued notices, but the process is not complete, according to the committee.

The committee points out that “among the 450 victims, 85% were minors at the time of the crimes. 71% of these minor victims are male, while two-thirds of adult victims are female.” According to the committee, “the attacks mainly took place between the 1960s and 1980s.”

The non-financial reparations most requested by victims are “calling for testimonies to search for other victims, the knowledge of the course of the abuser and the recognition of the seriousness of those that unfolded in a particular religious institution”.