French Church's most famous philanthropist accused of sexual assault

France’s best-known priest, the late Abbe Pierre, a popular advocate for the homeless, has been accused of sexually abusing several women and a girl, his charities said on Wednesday.

Henri Groues was a Capuchin monk since 1932 and an ordained Catholic priest since 1938. He died in 2007 at the age of 94. He left a legacy to people affected by poverty as a friend and founder of the charities Emmaus and the Abbe Pierre Foundation.

On Wednesday, however, it was revealed that seven women had accused the elderly clergyman of sexual assault and harassment between 1970 and 2005.

“Our organizations celebrate the courage of the people who have testified and helped bring these facts to light through their words. We believe them,” the homeless aid organization Emmaus and the Abbot’s Foundation said in a joint statement.

The allegations are detailed in an independent report commissioned by the aid agencies after it was first alleged that Groues had attacked a woman.

“Thanks to this work, we were able to collect the testimonies of seven women who testified to behavior that could be interpreted as sexual assault or sexual harassment,” the aid organizations said.

One of the women was “a minor at the time of the events,” they added.

A source at Emmaus told AFP that no criminal charges had been filed so far.

In a social media post, the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in France expressed its “shame that a priest can commit such acts.”

– ‘I need it’ –

Some 17 years after his death, Groues is still a familiar sight on posters in charity shops and subway stations, urging the French to think of the poor.

At the age of 18, he gave away his inheritance and joined the Capuchin order. He later became involved in the resistance against the Nazi occupation and was a member of parliament for several years after the war.

In 1949, he founded the Emmaus Community, which preaches self-help for marginalized people and has since spread to dozens of countries.

He also supported the soup kitchen movement “Restos du coeur” and clashed with city authorities who refused to house the homeless.

The report’s author, Caroline de Haas, said she had collected witness statements indicating “inappropriate behavior of a personal nature, sexual advances, repeated comments with sexual innuendo, attempts at unwanted physical contact and unwanted touching of the breasts.”

One of the women reported that Abbe Pierre “started groping her left breast” while she was “at the bottom of the stairs” in a hallway.

She said she approached him in an office a few years later.

“I went up to him to shake his hand. He tried to pull me to the window. I told him, ‘No, father.’ He told me, ‘I need it.’ I said, ‘No,’ and he left,” she told the inquest.

– ‘Idolatry’ –

Another woman said Abbe Pierre “put his hands on her chest and breasts” while they “talked about work.”

And another stated that one day he “stuck his tongue in my mouth in a brutal and totally unexpected way as a farewell.”

De Haas said the investigation had sparked growing astonishment that Abbe Pierre’s conduct had gone undetected for so long.

She referred to a “form of influence that was fed by the age difference, the status of Abbé Pierre and a form of idolization or the situation of subordination between him and the people.”

Following the hearing of the first complaints, a confidential system for collecting evidence was set up in three associations.

The executive director of the Abbe Pierre Foundation, Christophe Robert, described the revelations as “a terrible shock”.

He said the organization had decided to “bring the allegations to light” and “give these victims a voice.”

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