A preliminary investigation was opened in early December for sexual assault on a vulnerable person after a report from the diocese of Paris on the former archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit, the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday, January 3, confirming information from BFM TV.
The investigations were entrusted to the Brigade for the Repression of Crime against Persons (BRDP), according to the prosecution.
“Enough is enough”: the Church is bogged down in sexual assault scandals
According to BFMTV, the former archbishop would have maintained an affair with a vulnerable person subject to a judicial protection measure. This is, according to a source familiar with the matter, “email exchanges” between the religious and this woman, whose apparent consent must be confirmed with regard to her mental health.
“We have absolutely no knowledge of a complaint, so we cannot give any indication on this subject”told AFP Me Jean Reinhart, lawyer for Michel Aupetit.
A resignation in 2021
In November 2021, the archbishop had submitted his resignation to the pope after being accused, in the press, of having had an intimate relationship with a woman, which he categorically denied.
He was also challenged for his management of human resources in the diocese.
Entering the priesthood late – he was ordained at the age of 44 after having practiced medicine for eleven years – Bishop Aupetit had been at the head of the archdiocese of Paris since December 2017.
For Pope Francis, Mgr Aupetit “can no longer govern” because “his reputation has been damaged”
Before that, he had exercised various ministries of vicar and parish priest, chaplain to young people, had been auxiliary bishop of Paris in 2013, then had inherited a diocese by right, that of Nanterre for a little more than three year.
The archbishop, who had to manage the Notre-Dame de Paris fire in 2019, is known for his strict positions on the family and bioethics; in particular, he regularly supported the “walks for life” hostile to voluntary termination of pregnancy.
He also had trouble with homosexuals in 2012 during the debates on marriage for all. Some have also criticized him for his relative silence on the issue of child crime, after the shock wave caused by the publication in early October 2021 of the report of the commission chaired by Jean-Marc Sauvé which showed the extent of the phenomenon in the Catholic Church of France since the 1950s.
