Who is the French archbishop Thibault Verny, appointed by the Vatican to the combat towards pedophilia within the church? | EUROtoday
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Nsignificance of significance from the Vatican. Léon XIV has simply promoted on the head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, created by Pope Francis in 2014, a Frenchman, Thibault Verny. It is he who will take cost of the heavy file of sexual abuses, which has been undermining the Catholic Church for years, despairs the devoted and constered the entire world.
At nearly 60 years previous (he may have them on November 7), this Parisian Parisian, an engineer by coaching (he graduated from the School of Higher of Industrial Physics and Chemistry in Paris), ordained a priest in 1998 then bishop in 2016, after finding out on the Paris seminar and the Gregorian pontifical college, in Rome, is the Archbishop of Chambéry since 2023, after having been auxiliary bishop. Bishop Verny has the pinnacle of the prevention and combat towards pedophilia (CPLP) council throughout the Conference of Bishops of France since July 2022, and, as such, a member of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors additionally since that date.
The appointment of Mgr Verny, a “good sign”
The appointment of this discreet prelate to the stable CV, deemed clever, is a “good sign” based on a supply in command of these recordsdata. “He is a hard worker, he has his head on his shoulders, he is reserved but very attentive,” emphasizes Olivier Bonnel, journalist at Vatican News, who is aware of him for a very long time. When he was parish priest of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette, in Paris, he had managed to tie robust contacts with the devoted. “It is a very good choice,” continues the clever Vaticanist, “because he is a real connoisseur of the file. He is appreciated and recognized for his skills and his presence with the victims. »»
At the head of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, Thibault Verny follows a strong personality, the American cardinal Sean O’malley who, aged 81, reached the age limit to occupy the post. O’malley is this very social prelate, committed to the homeless and the victims of AIDS, who had spectacularly settled the immense scandal of sexual abuse in the diocese of Boston, denounced in the successful film, Spotlight, by Tom McCarthy (2016).
The choice of Mgr Verny is a sign of Leon XIV’s desire to make the treatment of sexual abuse affairs a priority of this pontificate, as the new Pope has already hammered it several times from the start of his pontificate – a few days ago in front of 400 cardinals and bishops gathered in Rome, demanding of them to be models and take strong measures.
This appointment is also an important recognition given to the work carried out by the Church of France with the CIAse report (independent commission on sexual abuse in the church) of 2021 which had caused a stir, revealing tens of thousands of abuses on minors, and which had been shunned at the top. The president of this commission, the senior official Jean-Marc Sauvé, an irreproachable man with the exemplary career, had been attacked by the conservatives and had not even been received by Pope Francis. This Catholic hired remains deeply bruised, as he confided a few months ago in an interview with Pointdenouncing a government of the Church long “in denial and concealment”.
It is a whole mentality, a culture, that we must continue to print within the churches, so that there is a state of protection of minors who become natural.Mgr Thibault Verny
The Conference of the Bishops of France, then chaired by Mgr Éric de Moulins-Beaufort-and to whom Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline has just succeeded-was a pilot in the matter, it is good and just that Rome underlines it today by this choice of one of his own in this key position, in Rome. Especially since the sordid revelations continue, and in many countries, in Spain, in most of Latin America and the whole of the African continent, the bishops always refuse shock treatment for these cases. “In Italy, there’s all the time an unlimited downside of omerta,” said, just after the election of Leon XIV, the head of the collective of victims, Francesco Zanardi.
Very strong expectations
The pressure is large on the shoulders of Thibault Verny. “There is institutional coherence as to his profile and his profession to nominate it to this submit, feedback sizzling for us Sister Véronique Margron, president of the Commission of non secular and spiritual of France (Corref), initially, with the CEF, of the Ciase report. But expectations are robust on the effectiveness of the motion of the Pontifical Commission. She works so much, however for what affect on the varied conferences of bishops? »»
Read too “On sexual abuse, the Church remains in denial”
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Answer
A problem that Thibault Verny doesn’t evade, and takes up with fingering. “The Commission is not there to replace local structures and episcopal conferences,” he stated, this Saturday, July 5, within the interview asserting its appointment to Vatican News. It is a query of elevating consciousness, within the completely different international locations, the completely different episcopal conferences, the completely different spiritual congregations, on the listening and the particular assist of the victims. Within the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, it’s decisive that there are individuals victims, dad and mom of individuals victims who present their irreplaceable expertise. It appears to me that it’s a complete mentality, a tradition, that we should proceed to print throughout the church buildings, so that there’s a state of safety of minors who grow to be pure, whether or not throughout the Church, inside households and in addition inside society. There is an emergency.
https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/l-archeveque-francais-thibault-verny-nomme-par-le-vatican-a-la-lutte-contre-la-pedophilie-dans-l-eglise-05-07-2025-2593734_23.php