Woman Sought Religious Help After Sex Assault…and Priest Sexually Assaulted Her, She Says (During Exorcism, No Less)

A 40-year-old French priest identified only as Father Christopher got in a spot of trouble with the gendarmerie last week — for allegedly having raped and tortured several women under the guise of performing exorcisms.

[T]he acts that allegedly left one of the victims in the Paris suburbs so disturbed that she couldn’t even describe them to investigators.

Police said the priest raped the three women in the autumn of 2010 after coming into contact with them at the private religious school. … [One news report] alleged he had first raped one teacher during an exorcism to purge her of the “evil” from a previous sexual assault.

The priest used his “spiritual influence” to convince two other female teachers to undergo similar exorcisms, French daily Le Parisien reported. It said the victims had claimed that acts of torture had been committed using a broom, a toothbrush and scissors during the ceremonies.

Police became involved only last year when two of the women reported the rapes to authorities.

Father Christopher’s religious order learned of the crimes not long after they occurred, and boy did they bring down the hammer on him:

After learning of the crimes several years ago the priest’s fundamentalist society of St. Pius X tried him in a religious hearing and sentenced him to two years in a monastery.

Note that they didn’t do what comes easily to normal people (those not burdened with being God’s representatives on Earth): notify the cops.

The priest, by the way, believes he didn’t do anything illegal (I think):

While being interrogated earlier this week the priest allegedly told detectives that he had only “mimed” sexual acts and had not raped the victims, one of whom had come to him for help because she’d been sexually abused.

A police source told a journalist for the news outlet Toutes Les Nouvelles that Father Christopher has mental problems.

“He’s obsessed with sex,” the source said.

Now I’ve heard everything.

(Image via Shutterstock)