French bishop charged with attempted rape of adult man

November 21, 2023

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CWN Editor's Note: Bishop Georges Colomb, MEP—the bishop of La Rochelle (France) since 2016—has been charged with the attempted rape of an adult man. The prelate has denied the allegation.

The alleged rape attempt took place in 2013, during Colomb’s term (2010-2016) as superior general of the Society of Paris Foreign Missions.

French media reported in June that Bishop Colomb was under civil and canonical investigation for the alleged attempted rape. France 24 reported in September that “despite multiple warnings sent to his superiors, MEP priest Georges Colomb became bishop of La Rochelle in 2016.”

Since Father Colomb was superior general of his institute at the time, the “superiors” who received the warnings were presumably Vatican officials. Despite the warnings, Pope Francis appointed him the bishop of La Rochelle, a diocese with 400,000 Catholics—raising the question of whether Pope Francis knew of the warnings when he appointed Colomb a bishop, or whether others failed to disclose the warnings to the Pontiff.

The above note supplements, highlights, or corrects details in the original source (link above). About CWN news coverage.

 

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