A pedophilia scandal is engulfing the oldest Catholic institution in France

Here's what you need to know

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin may be at fault.
(Image credit: Corbis)

A miracle did not occur in Lourdes last week.

Instead, on March 15, the French media descended on the pilgrimage site in southwestern France, which is hosting a conference of the country's bishops. The journalists came to grill Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, who, as bearer of the ancient title "primat des Gaules," is France's most prominent Catholic cleric. As the cardinal of Lyon, France's second largest city, he runs a diocese rocked by a series of sexual abuse scandals. (The diocese of Lyons is also the oldest Catholic institution in France, stretching back to the Gallo-Roman period.) With the cicada-like clatter of clicking cameras, Barbarin declared he had "never, never, never" hid any act of pedophilia committed by his priests. Staring hard through his severe wire-rimmed glasses, Barbarin observed that none of these acts had happened under his watch. Besides, he noted, these crimes had passed the statute of limitations, so they could not be prosecuted.

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Robert Zaretsky

Robert Zaretsky teaches courses in modern European intellectual and cultural history at the Honors College of The University of Houston. He is the author of several books, including Albert Camus: Elements of a Life (Cornell University Press, 2010) and Camus: A Life Worth Living (Harvard University Press, 2013.) He is also a frequent contributor to the New York Times, Foreign Policy, Los Angeles Times, Jewish Daily Forward, Los Angeles Review of Books and Chronicle of Higher Education.