* http://24hour.newsobserver.com/24hour/world/story/754769p-796464c.html
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French bishop convicted for keeping quiet about sexual abuse
By FREDERIC VEILLE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
PARIS (AP) - A bishop was found guilty
Tuesday of keeping quiet about a priest
who sexually abused children, marking the
first time in over 150 years that a
high-ranking French clergyman has been
convicted of a crime.
Bishop Pierre Pican, 66, received a
three-month suspended sentence for hiding
knowledge that a priest in his diocese had raped and molested boys
from 1996 to 1998.
The sentence by the court in the Normandy town of Caen was lighter than
the 4 to 6 month suspended prison term sought by the prosecution, and
the three years in prison the bishop could have faced.
Still, it shocked church officials that a court would convict a man named
by the pope and that so-called "professional secrecy" was at issue in the
trial.
The priest, the Rev. Rene Bissey, was convicted in October of raping and
sexually abusing 11 minors in the mid-1990s and sentenced to 18 years
in prison. Bissey told a court last week that he had decided not to appeal
his conviction.
Pican, in charge of the Bayeux-Lisieux diocese in Normandy, in western
France, had learned of Bissey's acts in confidential talks - outside the
church confessional where secrets are considered sacrosanct.
Defense lawyers argued the bishop's silence was motivated by respect
for "professional secrecy," which gives priests and bishops the right to
speak confidentially to one another.
"This judgment is today the starting point for a dusting off of the notion of
professional secrets ..." said attorney Jean Chevais, representing victims
of the priest. "The church must no longer cover up these crimes."
Pican made no comment as police escorted him from the courtroom in
Caen. He has 10 days to appeal the decision.
Several cases of pedophilia have prompted the Conference of Bishops
of France to reaffirm its condemnation of pedophilia among priests - and
lay down guidelines for bishops.
In November, the conference said priests who sexually abuse children
"must answer before the law" and that no bishop "can remain passive ...
and even less so cover up (such) acts."
During his trial in June, Pican acknowledged he knew about the priest's
behavior but later conceded he had made an "error of appreciation" in
terms of how serious they were.
A spokesman for the Conference of Bishops said he was pleased the
relatively light punishment "does not call into question" the right to keep
professional secrets.
"This isn't a severe sentence, but I'm still surprised," the Rev. Stanislas
Lalanne said, noting that there were no allegations children were sexually
abused after Pican spoke with the priest.
Bissey is one of nearly 30 priests in France convicted over the past
decade of pedophilia, according to the conference. Eleven received
prison terms. Another 20 pedophilia-related cases involving priests are
pending.
While such cases are increasingly ending up in courtrooms, it is rare that
the church hierarchy faces trial for covering up.
William Ryan, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops,
said no Catholic clergyman in the United States has ever been convicted
of failing to come forward to report sexual abuse.
However, a bill pending in the Massachusetts legislature would require
clergy to report suspected child abuse. The bill, which passed a House
committee in July and is awaiting hearings before the full House and
Senate, won crucial endorsement last month from the state's Roman
Catholic Church.
While the legislation would require clergy to report suspicions of child
abuse, that does not include anything they learned from church
confessions.
The Massachusetts church reversed its opposition to the bill just as
Boston Cardinal Bernard Law was named in a lawsuit by two dozen
alleged victims of a former priest in eastern Massachusetts. As part of
the suit, Law admitted in court documents in June that he transferred
John Geoghan to another parish even after he had been told that
Geoghan had molested seven boys.
In Britain, two archbishops have faced controversy over their handling of
pedophile cases among priests. Between 1995 and 1999, 21 Catholic
priests in Britain and Wales were convicted of offenses against children.
"This is the end of a long battle," said Yann Rebillard, one of Bissey's
victims after the verdict. "The church now has to take a long look at itself.
It must break the wall of silence."
The last time a bishop was convicted of anything in France was in 1841
in Angers, but, then, it was over a murder by a priest in his diocese.
France has about 26,000 Roman Catholic priests and about 100
bishops.
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What a pitiful 'slap on the wrist' for that joker bishop!
"suspended sentence"... baaahh!
He ought to share the same prison cell (for at least 3 years as the law allowed!) as the Child Molesting Priest who raped ELEVEN Young Boys.
Joker pleaded "the right to keep professional secrets"
THAT's what the Watchtower ChildMolester-Protectors will probably try to plea too, when they get their sorry asses hauled to court.
Was the good bishop worried about - if he turned the Boy-Raper-Priest into the French police, that it would leave a "priest shortage" in his Diocese? You know there is a great priest and nun shortage these days... how sad! :::sniff!:::
Or, was it most likely the same thing WTKultLeaders are worried about... if he'd turned the PervPriest in to the Law -
a Public Relations NIGHTMARE for the religion!
sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssshit!
If that god-damned bishop had turned the priest into the law early on, say after he Raped the FIRST LITTLE BOY, then the other TEN BOYS would have been SPARED.
Same goes with the Watchtower Criminals when all their Schit hits the fan, ... will it be found out that if they had acted SOON!... and turned Elders/D.O.s/C.O.s/GoverningBodymembers who were molesting children into the Law Enforcement Authorities EARLY ON...
how many other little kids might have been spared?
And now the verse from the Kingdom Kult's own bible, which scripture they love to quote in their literature and at their meetings:
"Because sentence against a bad work has not been executed speedily, that is why the heart of the sons of men has become fully set in them to do bad."
--- Ecclesiastes 8:11
If these KultChildMolesterProtectors had acted SPEEDILY - A.S.A.P. to make sure justice was executed upon these Pervert Predators, and turned them over to the Law, then look what all could have been avoided.
Damn Kingdom jehovahWitness HYPOCRITES!
I can see it now:
Stone Philips holding a puke-green New World Translation in his hand and quoting that verse and asking: "Tell us, Mr.Jaracz, why didn't your religion apply this verse from your own bible, in the case of these child molestors to whom you were giving shelter"?
(waited with bated breath for the answer...)
.