Jean-Pierre Ricard, who has been a cardinal since 2006, revealed the abuse in a letter on Monday and said he would step down. “Thirty-five years ago, when I was a parish priest, I behaved in a reprehensible manner towards a young girl of 14,” he said. “My conduct has inevitably resulted in serious and lasting consequences for this individual.” He went on to apologize and said he would be available if legal and ecclesiastical authorities wished to speak with him. Cardinal Ricard, 78, was ordained a priest in 1968. He became archbishop of Bordeaux in 2001 and retired three years ago. He was also a member of the Vatican Council for the Economy, which oversees all financial activities of the Holy See. Eleven bishops or former bishops, including Michel Santier, a former bishop in Creteil, near Paris, are at the center of abuse investigations in France, Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, head of the French bishops’ conference, said at a news conference on Monday. in which he also read the statement of Cardinal Ricard. The cardinal’s admission is the latest revelation to rock the Catholic Church, which has been embroiled in a global sex abuse scandal, often involving children, for more than two decades. In France last year, an independent investigation said French clergy had sexually abused more than 200,000 children over the past 70 years, and its authors said the Catholic Church had turned a blind eye for too long.
