Catholic Bishop Monsignor Pierre Pican, Bishop of Bayeux and Lisieux, was yesterday convicted of covering up for a paedophile priest. Mgr Pican received a three-month suspended sentence and was ordered to pay a symbolic franc in damages to four of the priest's victims.
The punishment was less severe than the sentence requested by the prosecutor, but Pican's lawyer said it was the first time a French bishop has been convicted since the 1789 revolution.
Mgr Pican showed no emotion when the verdict was read out in a courtroom in Caen, Normandy. At his trial in June, Mgr Pican admitted that Father RenΘ Bissey, a priest in his diocese, told him in 1997 that he had sexually abused children. Mgr Pican sent Fr Bissey to a retreat for counselling, then re-assigned him to another parish.
Last October, Father Bissey was convicted of repeatedly raping one boy and molesting 10 others between 1989 and 1996. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison.
A conference at Lourdes last November was told that 30 priests have been convicted of paedophilia in recent years, and 11 are still serving prison sentences.
