At a Mass of reparation for clerical abuse, Cardinal Philippe
Barbarin of Lyon asked forgiveness “before God and the whole of our
diocese” for not investigating an abuse allegation as soon as it came to
his attention.During the November 18 Mass, Cardinal Barbarin asked forgiveness for not immediately suspending a priest who had committed abuse and for “pardon for my errors of governance which have occasioned such a scandal.”
The prelate also asked for forgiveness for the priests who had committed abuse, for his predecessors who failed to address clerical abuse adequately, for “pardon for all the silences” and for being more concerned about the “culpable priests than the wounds of the children.”