French authorities investigate cardinal who admitted abuse

As the French bishops' conference addresses clerical abuse, Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard faces a criminal investigation.

Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard is facing a preliminary investigation by French prosecutors after he admitted to abusing a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago.

The prosecutor’s office in Marseille, southern France, said on Tuesday that it had opened a probe for “aggravated sexual assault.”

The 78-year-old former president of the French bishops’ conference publicly …