A Catholic priest, Bernard Preynat, is to spend five years in jail for sexually abusing dozens of children for about two decades, The Nation newspaper is reporting.
The 74 year-old Preynat, a French, admitted abusing boy scouts as their leader in Lyon.
He assaulted about 80 young boys whose ages ranged between seven and 15 years between 1971 and 1991.
While undergoing trial, the accused said he did not know how serious the crimes he committed were.
He said, “It took me time to learn it was wrong and condemned given the age of the children,” Preynat said.
Prosecuting counsel accused the priest of “shattering” the lives of this victims and sought an eight-year jail term for him.
Preynat was stripped of his clerical status in July after a church tribunal ruled he committed “criminal acts of sexual character against minors under (the age) of 16.”
Philippe Barbarin, Preynat’s superior, was also accused of covering the sexual abuse.
Barbarin, who has been an archbishop of Lyon since 2002, was first given a six-month suspension in March 2019 for not reporting Preynat’s offence, but was upturned by an appeal in January this year.
Barbarin confirmed he heard the “rumours” of Preynat’s activities in 2010, but that he became aware of the abuse after a conversation with a victim in 2014. He subsequently removed Preynat from his position but never reported to the police.
Barbarin has since resigned.
