French cardinal says he abused 14-year-old girl 35 years ago

PARIS (AP) — One of France’s high-ranking prelates of the Catholic Church, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, says that he had abused a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago and is withdrawing from his religious duties. The move comes after a report issued last year by an independent commission estimated that some 330,000 children were sexually abused over 70 years by priests or other church-related figures in France. Ricard said in a statement his behavior “has inevitably caused serious and lasting consequences for this person.” Ricard used to be the archbishop of Bordeaux, in southwestern France, until he retired from that in 2019 to serve in his home diocese of Dignes-les-Bains. In the 1980s, he was a priest in the archdiocese of Marseille.