PARIS – A French court has set a date in 2019 for the criminal trial of a French cardinal and a high-ranking Vatican prelate suspected of covering up a child sex abuse scandal in the eastern diocese of Lyon.
Victims of a priest who has confessed to preying on them have summoned Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, archbishop of Lyon, Monsignor Luis Ladaria Ferrer, head of a powerful office in the Vatican, and five other Catholic Church officials in court for allegedly being informed of the priest's past abuses and not reporting them to authorities.
A Lyon court on Wednesday set the trial to January 7-9.
Barbarin has admitted some "mistakes" but denied any attempt to cover up the case.
The upcoming trial will be the most prominent church sex abuse case in France.
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