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Archbishop Luigi Ventura, former Vatican ambassador to France, was tried "in absentia" this week in Paris
By Christophe Henning | France
A French prosecutor has asked a criminal court in Paris to sentence the Vatican's former ambassador to France to a 10-month suspended sentence for sexually assaulting a number of young men between 2018 and 2019.
The trial of Archbishop Luigi Ventura, papal nuncio in Paris from 2009-2019, took place on November 10 in the French capital.
The 76-year-old Italian prelate, who currently lives in Rome, was not present for the proceedings. He had been expected to attend the trial until last weekend when his personal physician prohibited him from travelling to France due to health risks associated with COVID-19.
"Obtaining a waiver of immunity to try him when he does not appear in court makes no sense," the defense attorney argued.
But the magistrates decided to go ahead with the trial just the same. They argued that there was little chance that the archbishop would appear later and stressed that he could still be represented by his lawyer.
"My fight is that of the people who were attacked"
The presiding judge of the correctional court then began to announce the allegations against the former nuncio, beginning with an incident during a ceremony at the City Hall of Paris.
Archbishop Ventura, who ranked as dean of the foreign ambassadors to France, was greeted with customary deference and honor.
Mathieu, a young official of the general delegation for international relations, was in charge of welcoming him and accompanying him to the hall for the ceremony.
It was then that the nuncio took an interest in the young man's private life while touching his buttocks.
Mathieu said he was taken aback and did not know how to react, especially since the archbishop touched him again in the elevator and a final time out in the open.
"I didn't understand what was happening, it was unimaginable. As soon as I was able to escape, I did," the young official said during the hearing.
He then thanked his superiors for supporting him in reporting the offence.
"My fight is that of someone who was attacked. I have nothing against the Church," he said.
The next alleged victim to take the stand was a community manager at the Paris City Hall named Benjamin.
He, too, said he was surprised when Archbishop Ventura touched him during an official ceremony.
"I turned around and saw someone smiling," he said. "What amazed me is that this wasn't an accident, but a deliberate act."
After the hearings dragged on for nearly three hours, it was time for the final accuser -- a seminarian named Marius.
He said he was very proud when he was appointed master of ceremonies for a Mass that the apostolic nuncio came to celebrate on December 8, 2018 at his seminary in Issy-les-Moulineaux, a southwest suburb of Paris.
The first incident, which occurred in the sacristy before the liturgy, startled Marius.
But the seminarian was even more upset when the archbishop improperly touched him during the Mass.
A few days later he told his spiritual director what had happened and the priest encouraged him to report to Church authorities.
Marius said he was conflicted whether to do so because he was warned that "you are attacking something stronger than you are".
"I had total respect for his position; I didn't know what to do," the seminarian admitted.
But, in the end, he filed a complaint.
A few months later, the seminary dismissed him.
Marius said he is now trying to put his life back together.
"I wait for human justice to give me justice and recognize me as a victim," he said.
The presiding judge then read the reports of victims who are part of joint civil parties.
Their lawyers called Frédéric Martel to the stand. The French journalist claimed in his book, In the Closet of the Vatican,that there are "gay networks of influence" in the Church, particularly in Vatican's diplomatic corps.
He told the court that he does not know Archbishop Ventura personally.
But Martel pointed out that "his name came up frequently during my investigations in Rome, Paris and Santiago de Chile", all places the former nuncio once worked.
The journalist also told the court that a young Catholic man who was very involved in Church organization had confided that Ventura once improperly touched him for several minutes during a public lunch.
After the lawyers of the alleged victims made their final arguments, they once again lamented the fact the former nuncio had not been present at the trial.
Jade Dousselin, Benjamin's lawyer, stresses the sexually explicit nature of Archbishop Ventura's actions. She said his "modus operandi" was always to attack young men who were in a vulnerable position due to his prestigious status.
Mr. Edmond Fréty, who represented Marius the seminarian, said that "faced with the wall of silence, it is never easy to recognize that you are a victim of sexual assault".
He emphasized that Church officials had "warned" Marius that denouncing the papal nuncio would have consequences.
"We would have preferred to hear something along the lines of a request for forgiveness," they told the seminarian.
The public prosecutor, Alexis Bouroz, said the case was "distressingly simple" once the substance of the facts has been established. He said he believed the accusations of the victims to be credible, detailed, repeated and measured.
Bouroz acknowledged the need to judge "without weakness", especially because of the gravity of the facts in relation to cases of sexual abuse.
But he also urged everyone in the court to take into consideration the fact that Archbishop Ventura suffered from impaired judgment due to brain surgery.
He then requested a ten-month suspended prison sentence.
But the former nuncio's attorney, Solange Doumic, pleaded for an acquittal.
"Did he commit a sexual assault by touching the buttocks? We want to make a historical trial of a minor news item," she warned the court.
She then emphasized Archbishop Ventura also had problems with his vision, as well as with his sense of judgment.
The court is expected to pronounce its decision on December 16. But there is still some doubt whether the former nuncio will actually be sanctioned.
As the prosecutor indicated at the beginning of the hearing, the Vatican had granted only "a partial lifting of diplomatic impunity" to allow authorizing the prosecution of Archbishop Ventura.
However, it has reserved, for the time being, whether it will allow for the application of both criminal and civil decisions (regarding damages).
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