Bishop on trial for shielding paedophile priest

A French bishop went on trial today accused of concealing that he knew a Roman Catholic priest in his diocese was sexually molesting young children.

Bishop Pierre Pican, 66, arrived at the court in the northern town of Caen surrounded by bodyguards.

He is accused of keeping quiet about the acts of Father Rene Bissey, who is serving an 18 year prison sentence for raping and molesting teenagers and children entrusted to his care.

Pican, who was placed under formal investigation in January 2000, is the bishop of Bayeux-Lisieux in the Calvados region in northern France and was Bissey’s superior.

He was placed under investigation after families of Bissey’s victims filed complaints, alleging that the religious leader knew what the priest was doing.

When called to testify at Bissey’s trial last October, Pican said the church hierarchy was not aware of the priest’s attacks on children. He refused to say more, arguing it would compromise his own case.

Under French law, a failure to report rape and sexual abuse warrants a three-year prison term.

Judge Emile Hector told the court today that in December 1996, Pican was told by his vicar general, Michel Morcel, that the mother of a young boy had complained about Bissey sexually assaulting her child.

"As soon as I found out about the acts of paedophilia allegedly committed by Rev Bissey, I told my bishop and we agreed to meet him rapidly, which we did," Morcel told the court.

Asked by the state prosecutor, Jacques-Philippe Segondat, what action the two men then took, Morcel said, "We tried to be close to this man so that he would realise what he was doing."

Pican was then called to testify. He admitted that he knew about Bissey’s acts but said he thought "it was just a case of fondling."

Segondat asked him if he had wondered if it could be more than that. "No," Pican said.

Bissey, the former abbot of Caen and Mondeville parishes in Normandy, had been formally charged in 1998 with raping and sexually abusing 11 young boys. He confessed but has said he will appeal his sentence