French police investigate sexual assault allegations against ex-archbishop

French police are investigating allegations that a former Paris archbishop sexually assaulted a woman protected by law as a vulnerable group, prosecutors said.

Michel Aupetit, who unexpectedly resigned in 2021 after admitting to an “ambiguous” relationship with a woman in 2012, denied any wrongdoing, his lawyer said.

The Paris prosecutor’s office said the police investigation into Auperti was based on information provided by the Paris archdiocese, confirming French media reports.

The prosecutor’s office said it would start in late November 2022 with an initial possible charge of sexual assault against a vulnerable person. The alleged attack happened several years ago.

Mr Reinhart said Aupetit had not seen the letter, had not been told who wrote it or what it contained.

“My client was taken aback and didn’t know what was going on,” the lawyer said. “We’re completely in the dark.”

Aupetit became Archbishop of Paris in 2018. Pope Francis quickly accepted his resignation in December 2021.

The pope then said he had accepted the resignation because Operti could not govern effectively after “gossip” about his relationship with a woman cost him his “good name”.

Francis said Opertit had “missteps” when it came to sex crimes. He said they didn’t take it that seriously and involved “some fondling and massage”.

Aupetit’s resignation has brought more turmoil to the French Catholic Church, which has been severely damaged by a long history of sexual abuse. An October 2021 report estimated that some 3,000 French priests had been sexually abused over the past 70 years.

In 2020, the Pope accepted the resignation of French Roman Catholic Cardinal Philippe Barbarin after he covered up the sexual abuse of dozens of boys by a predatory priest.

Other investigations are also ongoing. In November, the prosecutor’s office in the southern city of Marseille opened a preliminary investigation into “serious sexual abuse” by Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, one of the highest-ranking bishops in the French Catholic Church.

In a letter read during the French Synod, Ricard said he abused a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago and resigned from his religious duties.