Violence and sexual abuse at French Catholic school: Bétharram victims speak out
This week, France in Focus explores the "Bétharram scandal", named after the Catholic school where hundreds of pupils were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse for decades. The perpetrators of these crimes were never brought to justice, despite complaints lodged as early as the 1990s. Today, the vast majority of those cases are ineligible for prosecution due to the statute of limitations but the victims are still demanding accountability, notably from current Prime Minister François Bayrou, who was education minister at the time and a high-ranking local figure.
This week, France in Focus explores the "Bétharram scandal", named after the Catholic school where hundreds of pupils were subjected to physical, psychological and sexual abuse for decades. The perpetrators of these crimes were never brought to justice, despite complaints lodged as early as the 1990s. Today, the vast majority of those cases are ineligible for prosecution due to the statute of limitations but the victims are still demanding accountability, notably from current Prime Minister François Bayrou, who was education minister at the time and a high-ranking local figure.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
