Former archbishop of Paris Michel Aupetit targeted by preliminary investigation for sexual assault on person

The ecclesiastics had given Pope Francis his resignation in November 2021 after being accused, in the press, of having had an intimate relationship with a woman.

MO12345lemonde with AFP

A preliminary survey was opened in early December for sexual assault on a vulnerable person after a report by the diocese of Paris on the former archbishop of Paris, Michel Aupetit, according to information published by BFM-TV and confirmed to the France Agency -Presse (AFP), Tuesday January 3, by the Paris prosecutor’s office. The investigations were entrusted to the delinquency repression brigade to people (BRDP).

In November 2021, M gr aupetit had given Pope Francis his resignation – which the latter had accepted – after being accused, in the press, of having had an intimate relationship with a woman , what he categorically denied. Appointed in 2017, Mgr Aupetit, 70, had in 2012 “an ambiguous behavior with a very present person vis-à-vis him”, had then admitted the diocese. It was “not a romantic relationship” or a “sexual relationship”, had assured the diocese to AFP, adding that the archbishop “had opened up to his hierarchy at the time” .

Michel Aupetit was promoted to auxiliary bishop in 2013. A year only after, he inherited a diocese as of right, that of Nanterre. Three and a half years later, in 2017, the one who dreamed of “campaign parish priest” is hoisted at the head of the most urban dioceses. The archbishop, who had to manage the fire of Notre -Dame de Paris in 2019, is known for his strict positions on the family and bioethics – he notably supported the “steps for life” hostile to the Abortion. He also had a knit to leave with homosexuals in 2012 during the debates on “marriage for all”.

/Media reports cited above.