Ce mercredi 12 janvier 2022, une brume persistante enveloppe les Monts du Lyonnais. Mais dans le bourg assoupi de Pomeys, village du Rhône à la lisière de la Loire, la petite église Saint-Martin semble gagnée par une agitation particulière. À l’intérieur, des membres de la commission d’Art sacré du diocèse de Lyon, surpris par la présence de Mediacités, s’activent pour décrocher les tableaux du chemin de croix. « Cela nous dépasse totalement », nous lance Violaine Savereux-Courtin, responsable de la commission. Celle qui coordonne l’opération se refusera à tout autre commentaire.
Cubist and variegated creations, the sixteen stations depended then packed in bubble paper are signed "RIB".Three letters used by the artist and priest Louis Ribes to mark his works.The next day, the dioceses of Lyon, Saint-Etienne and Grenoble will broadcast a statement revealing that the church man, who died in Vienna (Isère) in 1994, is accused of sexual assault and rape on minors.
How many victims did Louis Ribes left behind?After the case of Father Preynat, after the report of the Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) which concluded that around 3000 "pedocriminals" in the ranks of the Catholic Institution since the years1950, and while Mediacités and Tribune de Lyon revealed last Friday accusations of touching against the former superior of the Chartreux, the affair of the "Picasso of the Churches" - the nickname given to Father Ribes - again shaken the 'Church of France and the Archdiocese of Lyon.
Religious leaders seemed to take the lead this time by calling on the victims to express themselves publicly [read below].But the image is misleading.According to our investigation started last December [read the box behind the scenes], the dioceses of Grenoble-Vienne and Lyon were slow to react.Cardinal Philippe Barbarin himself had exchanged with one of the victims in 2017.
He was gaining parents' confidence
Born in 1920 in Grammond, a village in the Loire, Father Louis Ribes, a secular priest teacher in seminars in the region, had forged the reputation of an influential and cultivated church man.From the 1950s, his steps led him from his native region to those of Lyon or Vienna, according to his missions and orders for stained glass and paintings.According to the accounts of his victims, the religious interfered in families and gained the confidence of devout parents to get closer to their children.Using his status as an admired artist, he had young girls and boys, naked.He photographed them and drew them, before abusing them.
It was in the villages of Pomeys and Grammond, where he returned on vacation, but also to the seminar of late vocations in Vienna-Estressessin, where he taught in 1968, that the priest mainly raged.In Isère, heart and diabetic, he brought in young boys to treat him, "heart guards", as he called them, that he was sleeping in his bed and covered gifts to better handle them and get their silence.
Now 58, Luc Gemet was the first to speak publicly.He says he was assaulted several times by the abbot between 1972 and 1979. According to his story, the facts took place with his parents, in the Lyon suburbs, but also at the Vienna-Estressessin seminary.“On medical advice, after a heart attack, he had to rest.He asked my parents, who were his friends, if he could come to their homes, entrusted Luc Gemet to Mediacités.It started like that.Very quickly, it went to serious facts of rape, without violence.I was 8 years old.»»
Luc Gemet breaks the silence in the summer of 2021. Supported by his family, he contacted the dioceses of Lyon and Grenoble-Vienne, written to the Sacred Art Committee, the Regional Directorate of Cultural Affairs and the Ministry ofCulture.He formulates his desire to see all the works of Louis Ribes withdraw.From Charly to Saint-Germain-au-Mont-d'Or, via the Savages, near Tarare, fifteen churches exhibit his stained glass windows, his cross paths and his paintings which represent the Last Supper and other scenesBibliques.
On October 11, 2021, only six days after the publication of the Ciase report, the Archbishop of Lyon, Olivier de Germay, replied to Luc Gemet.There is no question of reminding the creations of the priest-artist."Unfortunately I must tell you that the vast majority of the works of Father Louis Ribes exhibited in the churches are under the responsibility of the various public authorities," writes the primate of Gaul.
On the other hand, Monseigneur de Germay responds favorably to another request from Luc Gemet: he announces that he renounces the subsidy of 1,592 euros awarded by the State for the restoration of the Stations of the Cross of the Church of Chambost-Allières, registered in the inventory of historic monuments since 2015. Painted by Father Ribes, these paintings are the property of the Diocesan Association of Lyon
The days pass.The victim delivers his testimony to the weekly Marianne."A real relief," blows Luc Gemet.It was published on October 18.Nine days later, Luc Gemet and his family are received by Guy de Kerimel, then bishop of Grenoble.He tells them that two other alleged victims of Father Ribes manifested themselves to the diocese and the Ciase.He also claims that an investigation will be conducted in connection with his counterparts in Lyon and Saint-Etienne.
However, the reaction will not be immediate ... The auxiliary bishop of the diocese of Lyon, Emmanuel Gobilliard, is waiting on January 8 to go to Pomeys, where Marianne's article raised great emotion.During a public meeting on the sidelines of a Mass celebrated that day, he announced to the parishioners that the Cross Stations of Father Ribes will soon be won.There is no question, at that time, of the media coverage of the decision.
This will therefore intervene on January 13, in the aftermath of the withdrawal of the paintings from the village and while the diocese of Lyon had been informed of our presence in the church during the operation.In their press release, the three dioceses say they have "acquired the certainty last October of the veracity of the facts" and commit: "out of respect for the victims, the works of Father Ribes who belong to the diocese of Lyon, but alsoTo the dioceses of Grenoble and Saint-Etienne, will be gradually deposited and stored.»»
Sign of precipitation or bad communication internal to the church, the bishop of Saint-Etienne, Sylvain Bataille, discovered the name of Louis Ribes and the presence of two of his works in Grammond only a few days earlier, on 6January 2022, as he said during a public meeting organized Tuesday, January 18.
A "beautiful brazier"
That evening, in Grammond, to "release the word without stigmatizing the village", the diocese of Saint-Etienne invited its faithful to testify.Mediacités went there.About sixty people attend the meeting during which the accounts of victims or parents of victims are linked."In Pomeys, he was hosted at the village cure and made us pose in his room," says Annick Moulin.We have undergone touching.It was children who came up in his room.How could we not see what was going on?Why has no one reacted?»»
"Every Wednesday we were going to see Father Ribes," adds another victim.We were doing pyrogravure, it made us pose.I remember being on his lap ... We talked about it with a lot of people, unfortunately not with our parents ... "Another still remembers:" He was a manipulator.I went alone to Vienna several times.One evening when I didn't want to sleep in his bed, he ignored me for several days, making me feel guilty.Saux in his voice, a father confides that five of his children were attacked by the priest.
Come the questions about the two panels that adorn the choir of the village church and for which many victims have posed.The answers are unanimous: you have to make "a beautiful brazier" and a "big joy fire"."Louis Ribes, he was someone proud, he was in admiration in front of his paintings," adds a parent.You can't put him in prison since he died.But to see that nothing left of his works would be the only punishment that can be inflicted on him.The two works have since been removed.
"There are things that run, that have been known, that have been looking for each other for some time," comments Jean-Luc Souveton, former parish priest of Grammond (from 1988 to 1995, then from 2005 to 2008).Himself victim of Father Régis Peyrard (sentenced in December 2018 for sexual assault on a minor), it was he who informed his bishop of the case by an email of January 6, just after having taken note of the case.“The great predators of recent decades are all from the diocese of Saint-Etienne.We know that Bernard Preynat was the student of Régis Peyrard ... What about Louis Ribes?"He questions to denounce, in his eyes," the lack of action "of the Church.
"This means that there is no one who thinks that it is important to investigate, to go and question the places where he was born, where he lived, where he went, where he practiced ... IFind it staggering, ”continues Jean-Luc Souvenon.Last November, this priest stood out by arresting his hierarchy, in Lourdes, during the Conference of Bishops of France: "You are waiting to be caught up in events to react!It’s lamentable, deplorable, pathetic.»»
The culture of silence and denial
In the aftermath of the Grammond public meeting, the Archbishop of Lyon recognized in a press release "that the Church did not know how to stand out from the culture of the time, which was a culture of silence or denial, andwhere we were looking above all to protect the institution ”.In fact, alert signals on the artist-priest do not date from last summer [read the testimony of a former seminarian in the box below].In the 1970s, many parents wondered about the reports that Louis Ribes had with children and had shared their questions."But at that time, we were not going to see the police," said the mother of a victim.
Above all, in 2015, at least two people had already come up with a priest of the diocese of Grenoble-Vienne.Mediacités found one of them.Jean-Pierre is now 48 years old.He says he was attacked by Father Ribes between 9 and 11 years old, in the 1980s. For him, it all started in CM1 class, when he lived in the rue du Séminaire de Vienne-Esterin.“A seminarian organized neighborhood activities.He had "the good idea" to take me to the seminar to present to me Father Ribes, "he recalls.
Like many victims, he evokes an scholarly priest who "captured" his attention."He bought me a computer with games and I spent a lot of time there.But if I wanted to play, I had to put.I was roughly the only kid to come at that time, "he recalls.He also evokes polaroid photos and other sketches of the victims of Father Ribes, which the abbot kept carefully in his business.“He drew a lot.I saw him draw several people and, next to it, he still noted initials.The photos were stored in a glass cabinet in his room, ”continues Jean-Pierre.
Photos of his child, Luc Gemet, was able to recover it through a cousin of Father Ribes, following his testimony in Marianne.This is not the case of Jean-Pierre, nor of other victims. "Let us be returned and burns them!"Conjure the former kid from Vienna.
"Having become a little too big to spend time at the seminar," Jean-Pierre then buried his memories to rebuild himself after a "deplorable adolescence".Until the preparation of her marriage: "I always had that on my heart, I had to solve this problem with the church.Then, in October 2015, he went to the Cathedral of Saint-Maurice de Vienne, where he met Father Jean Callies.The latter teaches him a "good news": another person at least reported to him the actions of Father Ribes.
A few weeks later, Father Callies told him that his report went back to the diocese of Grenoble."We have really taken your request very seriously," his interlocutor wrote by email on April 15, 2016. We are then in full presynat.
Less than a year later, on March 16, 2017, Jean-Pierre wrote to Cardinal Philippe Barbarin.He tells her about his "reconciliation with the church" and evokes in the preamble the reason for his former rupture: an "chaplain introduced me to Father Ribes who gave lessons to the seminar and with whom I spent a lot of time.He brought me a lot (...) and paradoxically also put an end at that time to my relationship with the Church for reasons that are very personal to me. "
"I can see that there was a serious problem," replied the primacy of Gaul on April 18, 2017, in a letter that we were also able to consult.According to Jean-Pierre, the two men then meet three times."I do not know if he [Philippe Barbarin] knew or not for Father Ribes but it was a secret of Polichinelle.At least he had the decency to answer me, ”comments Jean-Pierre.
Contacted by Mediacités, the diocese of Lyon ensures that all the information requested at the time by Jean-Pierre were transmitted to him.The institution believes that nothing in the epistolary exchange with the former archbishop would make it possible to affirm that Cardinal Barbarin was aware of the actions of Father Ribes."We had no declaration of other victims at this stage," said the diocese.From the moment another victim asked for the withdrawal of the works in the summer of 2021, we carried out their inventory.»»
Despite the exchanges and the meetings between the Archbishop and Jean-Pierre, the diocese of Lyon did not have any investigation in 2017, nor disseminates any call for testimonies.More disturbing, in 2020, the diocesan commission of sacred art published a book on the "priests and artists of the diocese of Lyon", led by Violaine Savereux-Courtin.Four pages are dedicated to Father Ribes, "painter and illustrator with an endless imagination", and celebrate his talents.
During a presentation, in September 2020, the commission manager described the work as a one -year investigation during which "curiosity and scientific study asked to go further, to seek what their lives were,Their training, their priest journey, the quality of their creations also to replace this or that work in a more general creation ”.
"Yet they had kept my file well," underlines Jean Pierre, who had indicated that he could go "available to give (his) time and listening" if one day another victim of Father Ribes could "be relieved by aexchange "."Nothing in our files had made it possible to confirm this first testimony [that of Jean-Pierre]", replied the diocese of Lyon.
In addition to Jean-Pierre and Luc Gemet, who came into contact via the diocese of Grenoble after October 2021, dozens of victims have declared themselves since the case broke out publicly.In Grammond, during the January 18 meeting, they were a dozen to speak for the first time.How much will they be in a few weeks or months?
A former seminarian had alerted his superior in 1976
On Thursday, January 20, 2022, Alain, a former pupil of Father Ribes at the seminary of the elders of Vienna-Esterin between 1976 and 1977, transmitted his testimony to the dioceses of Lyon, Grenoble-Vienne and Saint-Etienne.His approach aims, he justifies, to clarify "on an atmosphere, an atmosphere that has marked" its young years.Mediacités was able to consult his story (including France 3 Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes also echoed this Tuesday, January 25).
In this seminar for late vocations, students aged 18 to 30 who had not had the bac could benefit from a refresher before entering the Grand Seminary.So 19, Alain remembers Louis Ribes as a "singular" priest and "very neglected, even dirty".The abbot is however estimated by his superiors for his artist qualities.His "courses were quite interesting and masterful"."We therefore try to go beyond these appearances to take advantage of his teaching," he wrote, evoking the "large piece which served him as a personal library" with a "state-of-the-art stereophonic installation (...) as well as astock of records worthy of a store ”.
It was in this office that, once a week, the abbot had music to his students listen to music."One of these courses remains in my memory," continues the former seminarian.Ribes had released a red 33 laps whose cover was decorated with a big "666" and had us listened to a piece entitled "The death of the beast".This piece resumes crescendo the cries of enjoyment of a woman who reaches her climax to then decrease and go out.The young men we were mostly shocked (…) while Ribes watched each of our reactions and comments.»»
Alain, who describes himself as a "very unruly seminarian", remembers having been punished during a course and sent to the back of the play by Father Ribes.Behind a partition, the priest had set up a "bedroom" with shelves covered with books and "placed against the walls, many drawing boxes," he also describes." The inevitable happened.During a course that was particularly bored, I opened these drawing boxes to discover dozens of naked children's drawings, very young, sometimes pubescent - but not always -, in lascivious and even pornographic poses ", Alain reveals in his testimony.
"A child often returned to these drawings, a sort of young Indian with the stiff hair of a dozen years, drawn in various positions", continues the one who, "stunned", wondered if "it was not normal"."After all, was Ribes an artist?He wondered then.
However, he decided to talk to its spiritual director."The latter was not expansive, always very reserved and discreet.He did not show any emotion appeared and just recommended that I be patient with Ribes, "wrote Alain for whom confidence with his director was" broken "from that day."Two days later, Ribes summoned me (which was very rare) in his office, to blame myself for having searched in his business, for throwing suspicion on him, and announced to me that given my behavior he did not'would admit more to its course in this place, "he continues.
His testimony does not stop there."A few months later, we saw a dozen -year -old child (...) that Ribes presented us as his nephew.I immediately recognized "the young Indian" of the drawings ", details Alain.
"We were amazed to see Ribes behaving with this child by embraced him, taking his hand, sitting on his lap sometimes and above all, we asked ourselves a lot of questions because they were sleeping in the same room,"he.All this did not seem to disturb the other priests of the seminar.I add that we were a very small community, installed in the aging buildings of an old hospice so a small part was habitable;So we were very close to each other… ”
"I do not know if the family of Ribes or the diocese has recovered its paintings and drawings," concludes the former seminarian.I am convinced that he did not destroy anything, attached as he was to his collections and his "works".»»
I discovered the case in December 2021, alerted by Annick Moulin, one of the victims, very active on social networks.After having read the testimony of Luc Gemet in Marianne, I quickly got in touch with him.Following a meeting in Lyon, at the end of December, we agreed to go to Pomeys together to find Annick Moulin.Pending an appointment, we have tried to establish various contacts and undertake to visit other churches in the region that exhibit the works of the priest-artist.But everything was jostled by the very discreet meeting of Monsignor Emmanuel Gobilliard in Pomeys, on January 8, with parishioners.
Informed three days later of an imminent dropout of the Stations of the Cross of the village church, I immediately went there to keep a trace of these paintings and question the parishioners.This is where we attended the first packaging of Father Ribes' works.In the afternoon, through a journalist who is preparing another investigation for Mediacités, the diocese of Lyon told us that a statement was going to be published on what was going to become, a few hours later, the caseof the "Picasso of the Churches".
Since then, the testimonies have been flocking and the Archdiocese of Lyon is faced with a new scandal of priest accused of sexual assault on minors.Despite our numerous requests, the diocese of Grenoble-Vienne simply sent us a press release released on January 24, in which he indicates that he will in turn organize a public meeting, on January 27 in Vienna, "likeWhat was proposed to Pomeys and Grammond ”.The Catholic authorities of Isère simply say they were contacted in 2016 by a victim "to know where Father Ribes was buried and if the diocese was aware of photos"."Research in the archives of the dioceses of Grenoble-Vienne and Lyon made nothing appear," simply added the press release.
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