A storm of outrage is sweeping through France’s Catholic community after Archbishop Guy de Kerimel of Toulouse appointed a convicted child rapist to a senior administrative role within the Church — a move critics say deepens the institution’s crisis over its handling of sexual abuse.
The man at the center of the controversy, Father Dominique Spina, was convicted in 2006 for the rape of a 16-year-old boy and served five years in prison.
Despite his conviction and the trauma suffered by his victim, Spina was named diocesan chancellor in June — a role traditionally reserved for priests of “honest reputation and above all suspicion,” according to Canon Law.
Archbishop Kerimel has defended the decision, citing Christian mercy and arguing that the priest’s role is administrative, not pastoral. “This is not about minimizing the gravity of his past actions,” he said in a statement issued Thursday. “But without mercy, the man faces social death.”
His words have done little to calm the growing backlash.
Victims’ rights organizations, theologians, and even members of the Church hierarchy have condemned the appointment.
A coalition of abuse survivor groups released a joint statement expressing “deep indignation and anger,” accusing Church leaders of “erasing the victim” in favor of institutional preservation.
A senior bishop, speaking anonymously to AFP, called the move “a great shame” for the Church. “A priest convicted of sexual violence must never again hold responsibility in the Church. There has to be a line we won’t cross.”
Conservative Catholic media outlets have been especially critical. La Croix, France’s leading Catholic daily, warned that “mercy cannot be invoked to bypass justice.” The site Riposte Catholique slammed the appointment as “unjustifiable,” urging Vatican intervention. Tribune Chrétienne, another conservative publication, bluntly wrote: “Compassion is not a loophole for canonical promotion.”
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The scandal unfolds against the backdrop of ongoing reckoning within the French Catholic Church.
The 2021 Sauvé Commission report exposed an estimated 216,000 cases of abuse within the Church since 1950, triggering national soul-searching and the creation of victim compensation schemes.
But critics say institutional change has been slow and often superficial.
This latest episode risks undoing fragile progress. “It sends a chilling message,” said Jean-Michel Caradec’h, a prominent abuse survivor and advocate. “If a convicted rapist can be restored to power, what message does that send to victims still suffering in silence?”
As the Church braces for another credibility crisis, public pressure is growing.
Lawmakers and activists are now calling for clearer Vatican guidelines on the eligibility of clergy with criminal records.
For many, the question now is not whether Father Spina can serve — but whether the Church, still wounded and trying to heal, can afford such decisions.