French Cardinal Barbarin suspends four priests, restricts others, after sex-abuse complaints
June 30, 2016
Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon, France, has suspended four priests from ministry and placed restrictions on several others, in response to sex-abuse complaints.
The Lyon archdiocese did not announce the names of the priests who have been disciplined, but the French daily Le Figaro, citing informed sources, provided a list of the fours suspended clerics. Le Figaro also said that about a dozen priests were being disciplined in some day.
Cardinal Barbarin took action on the recommendation of an independent board that he had created to review sex-abuse complaints. The archdiocese established new standards for handling such complaints after Cardinal Barbarin came under fire for allowing a priest to remain in active ministry after admitting to a previous abuse complaint. The cardinal has insisted that he did not cover up any evidence-- that the abuse complaint had been resolved before he arrived in Lyon, and he removed the priest from ministry immediately after hearing a new complaint.
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