A Paris court orders ex-bishop Jean-Michel di Falco to pay over €161,000 in damages for sexual abuse in the 1970s, a civil case bypassing criminal time limits.
PARIS: A Paris appeals court has ordered a former Catholic bishop to pay more than €161,000 in damages for sexual abuse committed in the 1970s.
The court ruled that Jean-Michel di Falco, 84, must compensate Pierre-Jean Pages, 65, for rape and sexual assault that occurred between 1972 and 1975.
Di Falco was a priest and headmaster of the Saint-Thomas d’Aquin school in Paris at the time of the alleged abuse.
A criminal investigation was dropped due to the statute of limitations, but the civil case proceeded under different legal time limits.
The court stated that evidence showed di Falco’s “wrongful conduct of a sexual nature caused Mr. Pages bodily harm, for which he is liable to pay compensation.”
The damages include €10,000 for sexual harm, €70,000 for professional impact and nearly €81,400 for temporary functional impairment.
Di Falco’s lawyer, Olivier Baratelli, told AFP his client maintains his “perfect innocence” and will appeal to France’s top court.
Baratelli said di Falco was “extremely shocked” the court suggested support given to “an orphaned boy… could be abnormal or inappropriate.”
Once a prominent Paris auxiliary bishop, di Falco was ordained in 1968 and served as a communications consultant to the Vatican in 2000.