“We are learning to deal with (these cases) with more rigor and more efficiency. It is a painful, necessary, and can be progressive learning process,” said Eric de Moulins-Beaufort at the microphone of RTL.

“We must progress, that’s for sure,” added the bishop, who was speaking two days after new revelations of “reprehensible” acts committed 35 years ago on a 14-year-old girl by Cardinal Jean – Pierre Ricard.

In this case, “we worked, we did not try not to say, we worked to make this report possible” (of the victim), underlined the president of the CEF. In Lourdes this week, he said he had been made aware of this affair in February, but denied any concealment of the information.

Until 2016, “no one really took the victims seriously: everyone thought they were children, they will forget. Justice, the police, everyone (was) in this state of mind there” , he said on Wednesday.

But “since 2016 we know that the trouble of the victims is considerable” and “we understand better and better what is at stake in these cases”, added the prelate.