Former French archbishop admits abuse

Paris: The former archbishop of the south-western French city of Bordeaux and ex-president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference has admitted to abusing a girl 35 years ago.During the plenary assembly of the Bishops’ Conference in the pilgrimage site of Lourdes, the bishops received a letter in which the former archbishop Jean-Pierre Ricard admits to having “behaved in a reprehensible way” towards a then 14-year-old girl. The president of the conference, Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort, described the confession as a shock. (dpa)