Overview

• The parliamentary inquiry published its long-awaited report on July 2, documenting systemic failures by church and state in protecting children at Notre-Dame de Bétharram.
• Fifty proposals include stricter inspection regimes, mandatory reporting procedures and strengthened safeguarding protocols for private religious schools.
• Prime Minister François Bayrou denied allegations of a cover-up linked to his family’s ties to the school and survived a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly.
• Judicial proceedings continue against a former supervisor charged with sexual assault and rape of minors and the Bétharram missionary order has launched its own independent inquiry.
• Survivors’ groups are campaigning to remove legal time limits on reporting child abuse and urging investigation of the order’s international operations.