Pope Francis met Monday with Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, France's highest-ranking Catholic official, who was expected to tender his resignation after receiving a six-month suspended jail sentence for failing to report sex abuse by a priest under his authority.
The Vatican confirmed the meeting took place within the city state but did not provide any details.
Barbarin, 68, is the most senior French cleric caught up in the global paedophilia scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church. He said after his March 7 conviction that he would travel to Rome to tender his resignation. If accepted, Barbarin would become “bishop emeritus” of the southeastern French city of Lyon but remain cardinal, meaning he could still vote on a new pope.
The Argentine pontiff could take several weeks to decide whether to accept the resignation. The pope has previously defended the cardinal, saying in 2016 that his resignation before a trial would be “an error, imprudent”.
But Francis said in February that “no abuse must ever be covered up, as has happened in the past”, or be under-estimated. A court in Lyon found Barbarin guilty of failing to report allegations that a priest, Bernard Preynat, had abused boy scouts in the Lyon area in the 1980s and 1990s.