A French priest was Friday sentenced to five years, two without parole, for sexually assaulting four young female parishioners, one of whom was just nine when the offenses started, and embezzling 100,000 euros ($115,000) to pay one of his victims.
The trial was held behind closed doors at Colmar Criminal Court, in northeast France, which publicly announced the sentence late Friday.
The 60-year-old cleric, who will have to spend at least two years behind bars and be under restrictions for the rest of his term, could have faced up to 10 years in prison.
The priest will also have to undergo psychological treatment, which he has already started, according to his lawyers.
Under the judgement, he is forbidden from contacting his victims or any activity involving minors. He is also barred from staying in the Alsace region, where the offences were committed.
His sentence was lighter than that sought by the public prosecutor, who had asked for four years in prison followed by three years under a supervision order.
The trial was held behind closed doors at the request of three of the four victims, who were minors at the start of the offences, the youngest just nine.
The attacks, which continued after three of the victims were adults, took place between 2001 and 2006 and between 2011 and 2016.
The priest, who was remanded in custody for three months at the start of the case in September 2016, "bitterly regrets the crimes that he has acknowledged (...) and offers his apology to the victims and to people (...) injured by such intolerable acts," his lawyer Thierry Moser said in a statement.
He had admitted to having diverted more than 100,000 euros in money destined for the Church and transferred it to one of the victims, then an adult, in exchange for sexual favours.
In total, he paid her more than 240,000 euros, including a portion of his personal wealth.
The victim, now 29, had been charged with "concealment of breach of trust" but was released after the court found there was insufficient evidence to prove she knew the source of the money.
France's Catholic Church has been roiled in recent years by claims against priests which have come to light in the wake of a global move by victims of abuse to come forward with evidence.
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Catholic officials in the US state of Texas on Thursday released the names of approximately 300 clergy who have been accused of sexual abuse dating back 70 years.
The revelations -- which came on the same day that a law firm said that more than 80 priests sexually abused minors in a California diocese over a period of decades -- are just the latest in a clergy abuse crisis that has rocked the Catholic Church.
Most of the Texas priests were dead, had been removed from the clergy, or both, according to the state's dioceses.
Two priests in the Houston area were facing recent allegations, and the San Antonio diocese said one unnamed living priest was the subject of an ongoing investigation.
"The Bishops of Texas have decided to release the names of these priests at this time because it is right and just and to offer healing and hope to those who have suffered," Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Galveston-Houston diocese said in a statement.
The 15 dioceses of the sprawling Lone Star state had promised in October to release names of clergy "credibly accused" of sexually abusing minors.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) applauded the move but urged law enforcement to conduct independent investigations.
"The only way to ensure that the bishops here in Texas are truly sincere about rebuilding their sacred trust is to allow for independent, properly trained experts in law enforcement to review all the files," SNAP said in a statement.
Alleged California abusers named
In the California revelations, attorney Mike Reck of the firm Jeff Anderson and Associates said that more than 80 Catholic priests had sexually abused minors in the San Bernardino diocese over a period of six decades.
The diocese had already released the names last October of 35 clerics involved in the abuse, all of whom were deceased or barred from the diocese.
But Reck said that list was incomplete, since it did not include the names of those accused of abuse prior to 1978, when the diocese was created.
"Disclosing this information makes children safer," said Reck. "This information that could have and should have (been) shared by church officials long ago."
According to the law firm, 53 of the 84 priests named have already died, but it is not known if the rest are still working, have left the country, or are under supervision.
The Catholic Church has been hit by revelations that abuse was covered up in countries around the world, especially the United States, Chile and Australia.
Attorneys general in around a dozen US states have opened criminal investigations.
The attorney general in the US state of Illinois in December revealed investigators had found at least 500 clergy accused of sexually abusing children, which the church had not previously disclosed.
In the same month, officials of the Jesuit order of the Catholic Church overseeing at least 40 US states released the names of more than 240 members accused of abuse dating back to the 1950s.
And an August grand jury report out of Pennsylvania found more than 300 suspected predator priests and more than 1,000 victims had been covered up for decades.
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