For some days now, there have been suspicions that Henri Groues, alias Abbe Pierre, did more than just try to love his neighbour: The Catholic religious and founder of the Emmaus movement may have engaged in sexually assaultive behaviour towards several women.
At least that is what the statements collected and analysed on behalf of the international and French Emmaus community and the French-based Abbe Pierre Foundation suggest. The investigation was triggered by a witness statement received a year ago about a sexual assault on a woman by the priest, who died in 2007.
Following a meeting with the woman, a firm of experts was commissioned to carry out the investigation in order to identify possible further cases.
The experts reportedly collated the statements of seven women, one of whom was a minor at the time of the assaults.
Numerous scandals involving the "oldest daughter of the Catholic Church"
In France, the man with the beret, the stubbly beard and the distinctive glasses was something of a national icon until then. He was revered as the "father of the homeless".
The name by which he became known, Abbe Pierre, dates back to the Second World War, when he resisted the German occupiers in the Resistance. For years, the social activist was the most popular Frenchman. For the left wing of French Catholicism in particular, Abbe Pierre was "the" figure of identification.
But on the other side of the spectrum, what remains of France as the "eldest daughter of the Catholic Church" is also crumbling in the wake of child abuse and sexual assault scandals.
Last month, the Saint-Martin community, which is based in the conservative spectrum, was celebrated for the first place it took in the statistics for ordinations to the priesthood. Now its founder, Jean-Francois Guerin, who died in 2005, is also in the spotlight.
On Thursday, the French Bishops' Conference announced that two "apostolic assistants" appointed by the Vatican are to investigate allegations of spiritual abuse levelled against Guerin.
In addition, some adults have reported offences of a sexual nature, such as forced kissing.
The two assistants - the Bishop of Laval, Matthieu Dupont, and the Abbot of the Premonstratensian monastery of Mondaye, Francois-Marie Humann - announced that the aim was to recognise the suffering suffered and to enable the Saint-Martin community to see its foundation and history in a new light.
At the same time, Dupont and Humann are to accompany the community in the reforms that the Vatican's religious authority deems necessary following a visitation carried out between July 2022 and January 2023.
One of the community's locations is Mont Saint-Michel, the world-famous monastery island on the border between Normandy and Brittany.
The pastoral care of pilgrims and tourists is shared between the clergy of Saint Martin, dressed in black cassocks, and the members of the monastic communities of Jerusalem, who wear light-coloured religious clothing.
Great shock among followers of Abbe Pierre
The community founded in 1975 by Pierre-Marie Delfieux, who died in 2013, contributed a great deal to the renewal of the church that began in the 1980s, writes the newspaper "La Croix".
However, since spiritual abuse and sexual assaults by Delfieux were first publicised in 2019, the community consisting of priests, religious brothers and sisters as well as lay people has been in crisis.
As "La Croix" reported on Wednesday, the group has now admitted that the allegations are true.
It officially recognises the responsibility and the damage and expresses its "deep regret for the suffering caused" to the victim, a 68-year-old French woman.
Abbe Pierre's supporters are deeply shocked. According to the Emmaus Movement, there is reason to believe that there are other victims whose number is difficult to estimate. The president of the Abbe Pierre Foundation, Marie-Helene Le Nedic, spoke of an "immense shock".
On Thursday, a white note was hung on the door of the "Centre Abbe Pierre-Emmaus" in Esteville with the inscription: "In solidarity with the victims of sexist and sexual violence and following the latest media reports, the team at the Abbe Pierre-Emmaus Centre has decided to symbolically close the memorial until further notice."