Bishop sentenced for paedophilia cover-up

A French Roman Catholic bishop was today given a suspended three months prison sentence for concealing knowledge that a priest was sexually abusing children.

It was the first time in more than 150 years that a Catholic bishop has been convicted in France.

Bishop Pierre Pican, 66, made no comment after the ruling by a court in Caen, which followed a two day June trial His lawyer, Thierry Massys, called the conviction ‘‘surprising,’’ but did not say whether an appeal would be lodged. Pican has 10 days to do so.

Pican, in charge of the Bayeux-Lisieux diocese in Normandy, had risked up to three years in prison.

In the end, the sentence was lighter than the four-to-six month suspended prison term sought by Prosecutor Jacques-Philippe Segondat.

The prosecutor, in his argument at the close of Pican’s trial, had made clear that it was not the church that was being judged.

‘‘This is not the trial of the church, but of a man of the church who failed in his duty,’’ the prosecutor had told the court.

But the lawyer representing victims, Jean Chevais, pointed to a link.

‘‘This judgment is today the starting point for a dusting off of the notion of professional secrets. The church must profit from this decision to become conscious that to keep silent is to lose.

‘‘The church must no longer cover up these crimes,’’ Chevais said.

Pican’s lawyers had argued that the bishop had been motivated by what amounts to professional secrets even though he learned of the priest’s acts outside the sacrosanct church confessional.

The prosecution said that Pican failed to assure that the case be brought to the attention of judicial authorities.

The priest, Father Rene Bissey, was convicted a year ago of raping and sexually abusing 11 minors from 1996-1998, and sentenced to 18 years in prison. Last week, he told a court that he had decided not to appeal his conviction.

Bissey is one of nearly 30 priests in France convicted over the past decade of crimes related to paedophilia, according to church officials.

It was the testimony of a 22-year-old man, Yann Rebillard, a former victim, that brought the case to trial.

An association that defends abused children, Enfant Bleu, filed a complaint against the bishop for failing to put the matter in the hands of judicial authorities.

The last time a French bishop went to trial was in 1841, in Angers, but the case concerned a murder committed by a local priest.