French cardinal to be investigated over abuse confessions

PARIS (AP) — The prosecutor’s office in Marseille has opened a preliminary investigation for “aggravated sexual assault” against Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, one of France’s highest-ranking prelates of the Catholic Church.Via a letter that was read out Monday during a conference of French bishops, Ricard said that he had abused a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago and is withdrawing from his religious duties. The investigation was opened Tuesday following a letter from an advisor of the current bishop of Nice. Ricard, 78, used to be the archbishop of Bordeaux, in southwestern France, until he retired from that position in 2019 to serve in his home diocese of Dignes-les-Bains, in the south of the country. In the 1980s, he was a priest in the archdiocese of Marseille.