Eleven other bishops of the French church accused of sexual abuse | NOW

Eleven bishops of France are accused of sexual assault, the French Church announced on Monday. This concerns both the clergy still in office and the formerly active clergy. As a result, the large number of cases of abuse in the Roman Catholic Church is increasing again.

One of the accused clerics is the former archbishop of Bordeaux, Jean-Pierre Ricard. He confessed that 35 years ago he abused a 14-year-old girl when he was a village priest. He resigned from all his positions.

The accused bishops face a trial. The church will also initiate disciplinary proceedings, the Archbishop of Reims said. He is also president of the Episcopal Conference of France.

Over the past 70 years, clerics in France have sexually abused more than 200,000 children, researchers found last year. The Catholic Church was aware of most of the cases, but turned a blind eye.

In recent years, a large number of scandals have come to light around the world about Catholic clerics molesting children. They were mostly underage boys. The vast majority of abuses have been covered up.