VATICAN CITY: The Vatican said on Friday it had decided to launch a preliminary investigation into French cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, after he admitted to a “reprehensible” act on a 14-year-old.

France’s Catholic Church revealed on Monday that 11 former or serving French bishops have been accused of sexual violence or failing to report abuse cases _ including Ricard, who confessed to assaulting a girl decades ago.

“In order to properly examine what happened, it has been decided to open a preliminary inquiry,” spokesman Matteo Bruni told journalists in the Vatican’s first public reaction to the scandal.

The Vatican has still to appoint a lead investigator. It was looking for a suitable person “with the necessary autonomy, impartiality and experience”, Bruni said.

French prosecutors said on Tuesday that they had launched an inquiry into Ricard, a long-standing bishop of Bordeaux who was made a cardinal by pope Benedict XVI in 2006.

“Thirty-five years ago, when I was a priest, I behaved in a reprehensible way towards a girl of 14,” 78-year-old Ricard wrote in a message to a conference.

“There is no doubt that my behaviour caused serious and long-lasting consequences for that person,” the cardinal said, adding that he had since asked the woman for forgiveness.

Published in Dawn, November 12th, 2022