A shocking sexual abuse scandal at a Catholic school in France has plunged the country into turmoil after revelations that the daughter of Prime Minister François Bayrou was among the victims.
The scandal centers on allegations of physical and sexual violence at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, a Catholic boarding school near Pau in southern France. Bayrou, facing mounting political pressure, denied prior knowledge of the abuse involving his eldest daughter, Hélène Perriment, now 53, who claims she was sexually assaulted by a priest at a summer camp when she was 14.
In an interview with Paris Match, Perriment stated her father “never found out” about the incident, despite his deep local and political ties to the school. Bayrou, who served as France’s Education Minister from 1993 to 1997, will testify before a parliamentary inquiry committee on May 14 over allegations that he ignored systemic abuse during his tenure. He has denied any awareness of the violence at the school, where several of his children studied and his wife once taught religious studies.
“My daughter never informed me [of the abuse]. The fact that she was a victim breaks my heart as a father. Such extremes are intolerable,” Bayrou told reporters. Perriment, however, remarked, “The more involved you are, the less you see and understand.”
The abuse reportedly occurred between the 1970s and 1990s. Prosecutors have received nearly 200 complaints, including 90 allegations of rape, implicating at least 13 clergy members, staff, and others linked to the school and a related boarding facility.
The scandal has reignited scrutiny over institutional cover-ups within religious and educational systems, with victims demanding accountability for decades of silenced trauma.
Theguardian