How to Inirr and CRR accompany the victims

Between 216,000 and 330,000 minors would have been victims of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church from 1950 to 2020. This estimate summarized the shock caused, on October 5, 2021, the publication of the “saved report”, named after the president of the Independent Commission on sexual abuse in the Church (CIASE). In the following months, two justice bodies, independent of the Church, are created: the INTIRR (independent national body of recognition and reparation) and the CRR (Commission Recognition and Reparation).

Both welcome requests for recognition and repair of the violence suffered during prescribed facts*, and coordinate to accompany the victims as best as possible, which may include civil or ecclesiastical legal proceedings. Other structures (diocesan cells, listening line …) are also intended for victims. What door to strike in priority?

Nationally

Catholic education is dioceses or religious congregations. Several religious congregations have set up listening cells. If you do not know precisely where you contact, contact the INIRR, the CRR or the reception and listening cell of the diocese of the establishment to which the facts are attached.

At the local level

The dioceses have set up reception and listening cells. Associations and collectives of victims are also more and more numerous. Most often, they bring together the victim of the same attacker (like the collective “La Parole welcomed” in Côte d’Or or “Liberated voice” in Touraine); Some have a broader objective (such as the association for memory and prevention of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church of the West – Ampaseo).

Religious congregations and Catholic education

What is the support offered?

The first objective of all these places is to welcome and listen to the victim who presents himself. They can put it in touch with close structures offering legal, psychological or social aid. Inirr and the CRR calls a referent that accompanies it personally from the establishment of its testimony until the end of the steps it will have decided.

The proposed path first goes through the recognition of violence suffered and their consequences in the life of the victim. To do this, the denunciation of the facts leads to an investigation carried out by the institution responsible for the accused attacker, whether alive or deceased. This work will allow formal recognition of abuses by the institution. Depending on the circumstances, it can lead to criminal procedures before the justice of the state or ecclesiastical justice.

The reparation acts requested by victims are varied: meeting an institution official, testifying in a public setting, organizing a ceremony to remember the abuses suffered and their consequences, receive financial reparation, and others.

The right to financial compensation is one of the fundamental principles of justice. Inirr and CRR are empowered to support financial compensation procedures. Inirr’s annual assessment published in March 2025 reports that almost all people who came to the body have applied for themselves, or on their proposal.

What does facts mean is prescribed?*

This does not mean that no recognition or repair is possible. It is the date on which these facts are revealed which is at stake. Beyond a certain date, it is no longer possible to act within the framework of the justice of the State. This period depends on the severity of the facts.

In the case of sexual abuse on a minor, the law distinguishes various forms of sexual violence. If it is a sexual assault, the victim can file a complaint up to his 28th birthday, the age of his majority more a period of 10 years. In the case of rape, the victim can file a complaint until his 48 years, 30 years after his majority.

Inirr and the CRR mainly accompany victims of facts that are prescribed. When the limitation period has not yet been exceeded, anyone may have acts of sexual abuse of the police, the gendarmerie or the public prosecutor.