Allegations of abuse: Paris public prosecutor’s office will not investigate Abbé Pierre

The Paris public prosecutor’s office announced that, despite serious allegations of abuse, it will not investigate Abbé Pierre, known as a poor priest, because he is no longer alive. / Credit: Studio Harcourt Paris/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

CNA Deutsch, Feb 7, 2025 / 14:30 pm (CNA).

The Paris public prosecutor’s office has announced that, despite serious allegations of abuse, it will not investigate Abbé Pierre because he is no longer alive. No investigations are possible against other people who may have covered up abuse due to the statute of limitations.

“The Paris public prosecutor’s office announced that the priest could no longer be investigated even after his death in 2007,” ORF reported. “The crime of ‘failure to report’ is time-barred, so no investigations are possible here either.”

Previously, the French bishops formally requested that prosecutors open a criminal investigation into allegations of sexual abuse against Abbé Pierre.

The move followed nine new allegations in a new report released Jan. 13. Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, the head of the French bishops’ conference, announced the formal request in a radio interview on Jan. 17, stressing the need to uncover more victims.

Abbé Pierre founded the Emmaus Movement in Paris in 1949. Before the allegations that he sexually abused a number of people, he was considered one of the most popular and well-known figures in the Catholic Church of France. He was best known for advocating for the homeless in France and for introducing the Trève Hivernale (Winter Rest) law in the 1950s, which still protects tenants from evictions during the winter months.

The allegations against the priest first came to light in 2023, when Emmaus France received the testimony of a woman who accused Abbé Pierre of sexual abuse. Further testimony was published in an independent report commissioned by Emmaus in July 2024. The documented allegations span several decades, from the 1950s to the 2000s, and the victims include Emmaus employees, volunteers, and young women close to Abbé Pierre.

The French bishops released the files on Abbé Pierre in September 2023. These documents would normally have remained sealed in the National Archives Center of the Church of France until 2082. But it is now acknowledged that from a legal point of view, the French state cannot do anything about the matter.

This story was first published by CNA Deutsch, CNA’s German-language news partner, and has been translated and adapted by CNA.