A French cardinal once tipped as a future Pope has quit after receiving a six-month suspended sentence for covering up child sex abuse by one of his priests. The 68-year-old, who has is the highest-profile cleric to be caught up in the child sex abuse scandal inside the Catholic Church in France. The case broke three years ago and lawyers for nine adult plaintiffs - former boy scouts allegedly abused by priest Preynat - took legal action. In 2014, after meeting with one of the priest's victims, Barbarin contacted the Vatican about the affair, but he only removed the priest from his post a few months later. Two other French religious figures have been convicted of failing to report child abuse in the past: the archbishop of Bayeux-Lisieux, Pierre Rican, in 2001, and the former bishop of Orleans, Andre Fort, last year.

Source: Daily Mail March 07, 2019 09:40 UTC