The Bishop of La Rochelle, Mgr Georges Colomb, asks for his withdrawal during an investigation into "facts of a sexual nature"

The Bishop of La Rochelle, Mgr Georges Colomb, announced on Tuesday evening, June 13, that he had asked to be “withdrawn” from his duties for the duration of an investigation relating, according to the Paris prosecutor’s office, to “facts of a sexual nature”.

This request follows the opening of an investigation, for a report by the Foreign Missions of Paris (MEP), “concerning acts of a sexual nature alleged against this bishop and which would have been committed in 2013”, announced the prosecution. de Paris to Agence France-Presse, after the publication of information in several press titles.

According to the weekly La Vie, the police investigation was opened on May 24 against the Bishop of La Rochelle and Saintes for attempted rape. Information also confirmed by the prosecution to the daily La Croix and to Christian Family. According to the same sources, the alleged victim was an adult at the time of the events.

In a press release published on the diocese’s website, Bishop Colomb, former Superior General of the MEP (2010-2016), declares that he has “to date not been contacted by any investigator” and “expresses his amazement and incomprehension in the face of these slanderous allegations and vigorously deny them”.

An administrator soon to be appointed

However, “in order to be able to prepare his defense and preserve the diocese of La Rochelle, Bishop Colomb made the decision to ask the pope to put him on hold for the time of the investigation, while remaining bishop of La Rochelle,” the statement added. . “An administrator should be appointed to look after [the] diocese during this period,” it said.

In a separate statement also released on Tuesday evening, the Conference of Bishops of France describes as “serious” the accusations against Bishop Colomb and Bishop Gilles Reithinger, Auxiliary Bishop of Strasbourg.

The latter, who had succeeded Bishop Colomb at the head of the MEP from 2016 to 2021, is quoted in press articles as having been aware of the accusations of sexual assault that took place at the MEP as early as 2013. He denies having been informed , according to the words transcribed by La Croix.

In mid-May, the MEPs announced that they had asked an external firm to identify cases of sexual violence that may have taken place between 1950 and 2023 within them. The MEPs say they now have 150 priests in fourteen countries (including Thailand, Vietnam, China, Cambodia, India, Laos, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma and Madagascar ).