Pierre Pican
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Pierre Auguste Gratien Pican S.D.B. (27 February 1935 – 23 July 2018) was a French prelate of the
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
who served as
Bishop of Bayeux The Diocese of Bayeux and Lisieux (Latin: ''Dioecesis Baiocensis et Lexoviensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Bayeux et Lisieux'') is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in France. It is coextensive with the Department of Calvados and is a ...
from 1988 to 2010. In 2001, he was given a three-month suspended sentence for failing to notify civil authorities of charges of
sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...
of a minor made against one of his priests, the first criminal conviction of a French bishop since the
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.


Biography

Pican was born in Granville on 27 February 1935. He studied ancient languages and literature before joining the
Salesians of Don Bosco The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1859 by the Italian priest John Bosco to help poor and migrant youth during the ...
. He continued his education at the seminary in
Dormans Dormans () is a commune located in the Marne department and in the Grand Est region of France.Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
named Pican Coadjutor Bishop of
Bayeux Bayeux (, ; ) is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy in northwestern France. Bayeux is the home of the Bayeux Tapestry, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066. It is also known as the fir ...
on 17 April 1988. He received his episcopal consecration on 17 April, and became bishop there on 19 November. He was a member of the
Pontifical Council for the Laity The Pontifical Council for the Laity was a pontifical council of the Roman Catholic Curia from 1967 to 2016. It had the responsibility of assisting the Pope in his dealings with the laity in lay ecclesial movements or individually, and their ...
. On 4 September 2001, Pican was sentenced to three months in prison for having failed to report Father Rene Bissey, a parish pastor in his diocese, to authorities after a woman charged in December 1996 that the priest had molested her teenage son. The priest had admitted his guilt and confessed to abusing others, and in January 1997 Pican had assigned him to therapy without changing his parish assignment. Pican's sentence was suspended. Pican's attorney said "This is the first time a bishop is condemned since the French Revolution. No boy presented in the civil hearing of the trial suffered any consequence because of Bishop Pican's silence." Pican said he had not assessed the seriousness of Bissey's actions properly, but that when they first spoke in 1997 Bissey had appeared suicidal and he had responded to his condition, which alerting the authorities would have exacerbated. His defense claimed he had the right to maintain "professional secrecy", which the court said did not apply to his relationship with Bissey. In October 2000, Bissey had been sentenced to 18 years in prison for molesting eleven minor boys. Cardinal Castrillon Hoyos, Prefect of the
Congregation for the Clergy The Dicastery for the Clergy, formerly named Congregation for the Clergy (; formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and Sacred Congregation of the Council), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regard ...
, wrote Pican to say he was glad to have "a brother bishop who in the eyes of history and of all the world's bishops would choose prison over denouncing his priest". He said
Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...
had approved his letter to Pican.
Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...
accepted his resignation, which he was required to submit when he turned 75 on 27 February 2010, on 12 March 2010. His retirement ceremony, held on 21 February, took place in the Basilica in Lisieux because the Bayeux cathedral was too small to accommodate the crowds expected. Asked about the way he handled the case of the sexual abuse he said that "Today I would not report it any more than yesterday" and that he "preferred to be condemned by his country's justice than betray his conscience". In retirement Pican remained active within the Salesians and the Episcopal Conference of France, where at the age of 80 he was tasked with representing the concerns of retired clergy. He lived first with the Salesian community in Paris and then on rue Picpus with the community of Petites Sœurs des Pauvres. Pican died on 23 July 2018 at the age of 83.


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Catholic Hierarchy biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pican, Pierre 1935 births 2018 deaths Bishops of Bayeux 20th-century Roman Catholic bishops in France 21st-century Roman Catholic bishops in France People from Granville, Manche Catholic Church sexual abuse scandals in France