A Priest in the Catholic Church in France is being investigated for the rape of a minor, according to the Paris public prosecutor’s office on Thursday.
According to French media reports, the victim is a 15-year-old whom the priest had met through an undisclosed dating app.
The clergyman in his fifties from western France has been remanded in custody.
The Priest allegedly administered drugs to the assaulted teenager without her knowledge earlier in November.
The diocese of Rennes, whom the priest serves, reacted with dismay. Archbishop Pierre d’Ornellas also expressed sympathy and support towards the victim.
A few days ago, another abuse scandal caused a stir in the French Catholic Church, where the former president of France’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, admitted to abusing a 14-year-old girl in the 1980s. He is also under investigation by authorities.
According to a study presented in October 2021, it was revealed that, since the 1950s, an estimated 330,000 children and young people have been victims of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in France, including cases victims from all institutions run by the church.