French prosecutors drop ‘sexual assault’ probe into cardinal

MARSEILLE: French prosecutors said on Saturday they had closed an investigation into sexual assault charges against a cardinal as the statute of limitations had passed.

The probe was launched in November last year after Jean-Pierre Ricard, a retired bishop made a cardinal by pope Benedict XVI in 2006, admitted in public that he had “behaved in a reprehensible way” towards a young girl 35 years ago.

The 78-year-old, taken into custody on February 2, told investigators he had “kissed” the girl, who he said was about 13 years old.

He said he had also embraced her and “caressed her over her clothes”, but “there was no sexual intercourse.”