Catholic schools in spotlight as French abuse report fuels state oversight debate
A photo shows a view of the National Assembly in Paris on June 10, 2024, a day after the European Parliament elections. / Credit: GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT/AFP via Getty Images
CNA Newsroom, Jul 6, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).
A French parliamentary report released on July 2 has shed light on disturbing cases of abuse in schools while also reigniting a longstanding national debate over the balance between state oversight and freedom of education.
The report, resulting from a five-month inquiry into violence within the school system, proposes a series of measures aimed at better protecting minors. However, its heavy focus on Catholic private institutions under state contract has raised concerns about potential political bias and the future of educational pluralism in France.
The inquiry was led by parliamentarians Violette Spillebout, from President Macron’s centrist party Renaissance, and Paul Vannier, from the far-left party La France Insoumise (LFI).
While the report formally addresses all types of schools, much of its attention is directed toward Catholic private institutions under state contract, especially those with boarding programs.
*‘Structural dysfunction’*
The commission of inquiry was established following revelations of abuse at Notre-Dame de Bétharram, a Catholic boarding school in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques (southwestern France). The case, spanning several decades, served as a catalyst for national reflection. Prime Minister François Bayrou, a former education minister who had sent his children to the school, was called to testify.
The Bétharram school is cited in the report as a key case study, where priests, teachers, and staff are accused of having committed serious physical and sexual abuse between 1957 and 2004.
Victims described acts of “unprecedented severity, of absolute sadism.” Lawmakers called the school a “textbook example” of the state’s structural dysfunction and failure to prevent abuse, warning that similar flaws remain in place today.
More broadly, the report denounces ongoing violence in both public and private schools and cites decades of insufficient protective measures. Commission president Fatiha Keloua Hachi described the investigation as a “deep dive into the unthinkable,” revealing systemic silence and institutional failure. It documents over 270 affected schools and at least 80 victim collectives across the country.
The report also pointed to cultural and religious factors that may have contributed to institutional silence in some schools, including rigid hierarchical structures and a reluctance to question authority.
The commission found that sanctioned teachers could sometimes be quietly reassigned. It also highlighted the absence of national data on abuse cases and discrepancies in reporting: One national survey estimated 7,000 cases of sexual violence in a year, yet only 280 were officially recorded in 2023–2024.
Ultimately, the report concludes that the Ministry of Education still lacks effective tools to identify and address abuse and calls for comprehensive structural reforms.
Among the report’s most prominent recommendations is the lengthening of the statute of limitations for reporting abuse, reinforcing whistleblower protections, and establishing a new independent reporting body called “Signal Éduc.” It also calls for the creation of a national compensation fund for victims.
Other proposed measures include increasing the frequency of inspections, particularly for boarding schools (annually in primary schools and at least every three years in middle and high schools), and lifting professional secrecy in cases involving abuse of minors under 15, even in the context of religious confession.
This last proposal, already included in the 2021 Ciase report on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, is raising concern among the Church hierarchy which has consistently reaffirmed the inviolability of the seal of confession.
The report further recommends that private institutions under state contract be brought more directly under the oversight of the Ministry of Education’s General Directorate and proposes reevaluating the role of the Catholic Education Secretariat (SGEC), which oversees over 7,200 schools.
*Catholic education’s response*
Philippe Delorme, Secretary General of the SGEC, which came under intense scrutiny from co-rapporteur Paul Vannier — who repeatedly questioned its legitimacy and accused it of obstructing oversight — responded cautiously to the report.
He acknowledged its usefulness in surfacing abuses and encouraging vigilance while voicing concern about what he views as attempts to erode the distinctive mission of Catholic education.
“School life in our establishments is not intended to be exactly the same as in public schools as we enjoy a certain freedom of organization,” he stated during an April 7 audition with the Commission for Cultural Affairs and Education.
During a June 19 press conference, he claimed that the SGEC had already committed to verifying the criminal background of all non-teaching staff — some 80,000 individuals — well in advance of the report’s release.
Furthermore, the SGEC recently launched, in May, the “Stop Violences” campaign, aiming to raise awareness, enhance prevention strategies, and reinforce the commitment of Catholic educational institutions to student safety.
The report’s emphasis on Catholic schools has sparked debate, as critics acknowledge the seriousness of the documented abuses but also question whether the focus risks suggesting a systemic failure unique to Catholic education, despite similar issues existing across the broader educational landscape.
In a related analysis published in Le Figaro, education journalist Caroline Beyer wrote that the report marks “a political sequence above all,” with Catholic education squarely in the firing line, and questioned whether the recommendations would result in meaningful change or serve ideological motives.
Her observation echoed broader concerns that, while the report raises vital questions, it risks becoming a tool for polarizing debates around the role of faith-based schools in French society.
Such doubts about the impartiality of the document have been reinforced by the fact that Vannier was already the author, in 2024, of a highly critical report on the funding of Catholic schools.
Former Minister of Higher Education Patrick Hetzel also accused the parliamentarian of using the inquiry to pursue an ideological agenda aimed at undermining the 1959 Debré Law, which ensures state support for private schools under contract. “With him, LFI wants to revive the school war,” Hetzel told Le Figaro, referencing historic tensions between secular and faith-based education in France.
Although Violette Spillebout has insisted that their work was not guided by dogma but by the testimony of victims and a desire to ensure that no child, in any type of school, is left unprotected, the perception of disproportionate attention on Catholic institutions remains a point of contention.
The report comes amid broader efforts by the French government to extend control over education. In 2021, President Macron’s administration drew criticism for proposing a ban on homeschooling, ostensibly to combat Islamic radicalization. Though softened before passage, the bill reflected a shift toward greater state control over education.
The report’s publication also coincided with renewed focus on Paris’s Stanislas School, a prestigious Catholic institution under investigation for alleged non-compliance with the national sex education curriculum as well as “homophobic and sexist drift”, and for its new Christian culture courses.
While a 2023 inspection did not confirm systemic discrimination, the Ministry of Education has signaled closer monitoring.