Pope's decision angered the victims

abuses He rejected the resignation of a French cardinal accused of concealment

ROME.- In accordance with what he has always said about the need to respect the principle of "presumption of innocence", the

Pope

He did not accept the resignation of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, sentenced on March 7 to six months in prison for failing to conceal

a pedophile priest

.

In anticipation of an affair that had a great repercussion in France, Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon and high dignitary of the country's church since he was "the primate of the Gauls" ( former honorary title), had presented him the day before in Francisco his resignation in a private audience at the Apostolic Palace of

Vatican

.

"Citing the presumption of innocence, he did not want to accept this resignation," the high prelate said yesterday in a statement in which he also announced that Francisco had left him "the freedom" to take the better decision for the diocese of Lyon. By virtue of this, on his proposal and because the Church of Lyon for three years is upset by the scandal of the abuses committed by the priest Bernard Preynat, silenced by the hierarchy, decided to leave for a moment the conduct of the diocese to his vicar general.

Pope's decision infuriated groups of victims in France, who consider Barbarin, a 68-year-old conservative prelate, a symbol of
omerta (Mafioso silence) that reigned for decades in the Catholic Church before the horror of badual abuse of minors. "It seemed unlikely that [el Papa] I could make such an error. It's incredible, "said AFP François Devaux, co-founder of the Victims' Association of the Liberation of the Word," I think this man will succeed in killing the Church. Another member of the badociation, Pierre-Emmanuel Germain-Thill, was flogged a "shocking" decision and "a new misstep" by Francisco.

The Episcopal Conference of France, in a statement in which it had taken an unusual distance, expressed its "surprise" at an "unprecedented" situation.

On March 7, Barbarin announced that he would appeal the 6-month suspended prison sentence he had suffered for concealing an abusive priest, which is unprecedented. During the trial, he stated that he had never tried to hide facts that he described as "horrible" and that although he had heard about He had learned of the abuses committed by the priest of his diocese in 2014.