French Archbishop Appoints Convicted Rapist as Diocesan Chancellor, Rescinds Offer Following Outcry

A Roman Catholic Archbishop in Toulouse, France, has apologized for appointing a convicted rapist as Diocesan Chancellor, amid sustained outcry from abuse victims, according to the Catholic Herald.

Last month, Archbishop Guy de Kerimel appointed Fr. Dominique Spina as Chancellor and Episcopal Delegate for Marriages. Spina was convicted in 2005 of raping a 16-year old high school student, for whom he served as spiritual director and school chaplain, between 1992 and 1994. He was sentenced to four years in prison.

According to reports, concerns were raised during the trial about the risk of reoffending, with psychiatric experts noting that the priest appeared to exhibit “paranoid, narcissistic and perverse dispositions” and a “lack of guilt”.

After serving two years of his sentence, he was granted parole in 2007 and transferred to the Diocese of Toulouse by then-Archbishop Robert Le Gall, while remaining incardinated in his original diocese. In Toulouse, he was to be given mostly administrative responsibilities, including minor pastoral duties with adults only, and was provided with psychological support.

After his release, Spina resumed his ministry, becoming a priest in the Diocese of Toulouse and later Vice-Chancellor of the Diocese. He was being promoted to ‘Chancellor and Episcopal Delegate for Marriages.’

Amid criticism, the Archbishop apologized for appointing Spina, acknowledging, “My decision was interpreted by many people as a snub to the victims of sexual abuse; I ask the victims’ forgiveness.”

He also defended his reasoning by saying he ‘sided with mercy,’ offering, “We believe that justice is not opposed to mercy, mercy is not opposed to justice…in the Gospel, Jesus went to great lengths to rehabilitate sinful and guilty people…Jesus forgave their sins, they changed their lives, and they exercised, in the name of Christ, an authority that lasts to this day.”

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