Updated Mar 7, 2019

French cardinal to resign after sentencing for sexual abuse cover-up

Cardinal Philippe Barbarin had pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Photo: Jeff Pachoud/AFP/Getty Images

France's most senior Roman Catholic cleric, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, said he would resign his post Thursday after he was convicted and sentenced for his role in a sexual abuse cover-up, per AFP.

Details: A court in Lyon, where he is archbishop, found him guilty of not reporting allegations that Boy Scouts were sexually abused by a priest in his diocese in the 1980s and early 1990s, Euronews reports. It gave him a six-month suspended sentence. Barbarin had pleaded not guilty to the charges and his lawyers said he would appeal the verdict. His sentence comes less than two weeks after a court in Melbourne, Australia, announced Vatican treasurer George Pell had been found guilty of child sex offenses.

Go deeper