French Cardinal Convicted of Covering Up Child Abuse Reports

In France on Thursday, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, the Archbishop of Lyon, was convicted of failing to report child abuse to authorities.  As reported by the New York Times, in 2014 and 2015 parishioners told the Archbishop of abuse of dozens of Boy Scouts that took place in the late 1980's and early 1990's by one of his priests, Rev. Bernard Preynat. The Archbishop was given a 6-month suspended sentence and fined 45,000 Euros (over $50,000 U.S.). Five other church officials and employees tried with Cardinal Barbarin were acquitted. (Full text of judgment in French).