French cardinal acquitted on appeal in sex abuse case involving priest

A French appeals court on Thursday acquitted Cardinal Philippe Barbarin on charges of covering up the sexual abuse of minors in his flock. 

Barbarin said he will ask the pope to allow him to resign — repeating a request that was refused earlier by Pope Francis, who wanted to await the outcome of the appeals trial.

Thursday's court decision "allows me to turn a page and for the church of Lyon to open a new chapter," Barbarin said at a brief news conference. He said he would go to Rome to "renew my request."

Initially, the appeals court in the southeastern French city of Lyon gave no explanation while pronouncing its decision to wipe the legal slate clean for Barbarin. The court, however, later released a 38-page document with the reasoning behind its decision and said it found no "intentional element" showing a coverup.

Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, had been convicted in March and given a six-month suspended sentence for failing to report a predator priest to police.

The prosecutor's office had sought the acquittal accorded by the court, as it did in the initial trial.

"This decision is logical," one of Barbarin's lawyer's, Jean Felix Luciani, said outside the courtroom. He said the cardinal had faced down "public rumour and calumny."

Barbarin, 69, said at his appeals trial in November that he filed an appeal because "I cannot see clearly what I am guilty of."

The verdict comes at a time of increasing scrutiny around the world of the Catholic Church's role in hiding abuse by its clergy.

The court had ruled that "in wanting to avoid scandal caused by the facts of multiple sexual abuses committed by a priest ... [Barbarin] preferred to take the risk of preventing the discovery of many victims of sexual abuse by the justice system, and to prohibit the expression of their pain."

Priest faces significant prison time

Bernard Preynat, the now-defrocked priest at the centre of the scandal, described to a court at his trial earlier this month how he systematically abused boys over two decades as a French scout chaplain. Preynat said his superiors knew about his "abnormal" behaviour as far back as the 1970s.

"Had the church sidelined me earlier, I would have stopped earlier," Preynat said.

Now 74, Preynat faces up to 10 years in prison in what is France's biggest clergy sex abuse trial to date. He's suspected of abusing around 75 boys, but his testimony suggests the overall number could be even higher. That verdict is expected in March.

The case against Barbarin hinges on a 2014 discussion with victim Alexandre Hezez, who told the cardinal about the sexual abuse he had suffered in the 1980s by Preynat during scout camps. Hezez felt the priest should no longer lead a parish.

Barbarin told the appeal hearing that he followed Vatican instructions after that discussion with Hezez. He suggested he could not have done more.

At the trial of Preynat, victims testified about how much power the priest had held over them and the lifelong damage that his abuse caused.

"I saw this community that admired this man, and I was his protégé, his pet," said victim Francois Devaux, who called Thursday's ruling "a disappointment."