French police are investigating an allegation that the former archbishop of Paris sexually assaulted a woman who is under legal protection as a vulnerable person, prosecutors say.
FILE - Paris Archbishop Michel Aupetit gestures during the Holy Thursday celebration in front of the Sacre Coeur basilica, on April 9, 2020 in Paris. , prosecutors said Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. Michel Aupetit, who unexpectedly resigned in 2021 after admitting to an “ambiguous” relationship with a woman in 2012, denies any wrongdoing, his lawyer said.
Aupetit's lawyer, Jean Reinhart, said the probe was triggered by a letter sent to the Paris archdiocese. The letter was then forwarded to prosecutors, an automatic procedure for handling potential abuse cases that Aupetit himself put in place when he was archbishop, Reinhart said. Prosecutors then launched the police probe.
“My client is flabbergasted, doesn't know what this is about,” the lawyer said. “We are completely in the dark.”quickly accepted his resignation in December 2021. Francis said there had been “lapses” with Aupetit involving sexual sins. He said they weren’t that serious and involved “some caresses and massages.”Aupetit's resignation piled more upheaval on the French Catholic Church that has been severely undermined by a long history of sexual abuses. A report in October 2021 estimated that some 3,000 French priests had committed sexual abuse over the past 70 years.
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