Abbé Pierre Revealed to Have Been Sexually Abused as a Child

A newly uncovered letter details the abuse the French icon endured at age seven, adding complexity to recent allegations against him.

A letter written by Abbé Pierre in 1932, uncovered in Capuchin archives, reveals he was sexually abused at age seven while at a Lyon boarding school.
The letter describes how he was coerced under threat of a pistol for two months before fleeing the school and returning home ill for three months.
His abusers were reportedly caught with another victim and expelled from the school in a widely scandalized incident.
Abbé Pierre, a revered figure in France and founder of Emmaüs, has faced multiple allegations of sexual violence from women dating between the 1950s and 2000s since July 2024.
In response to these allegations, the Church has opened its archives, and an independent commission is investigating institutional failures that may have shielded him from accountability.