Abbé Pierre and ‘Palestine’

Abbé Pierre has been, until very recently, a revered figure in France, where he spent much of his life helping the poor. He was born as Henri Marie Joseph Grouès in 1912, into a family of rich silk merchants in Lyon. In 1928, at 16, he made the decision to join a monastic order, but he had to wait until he was seventeen and a half to fulfill this ambition. In 1931, Grouès entered the Capuchin Order, renouncing his inheritance and offering all his possessions to charity.

He became a Capuchin monk, and made the care of the poor his vocation. He worked in the Resistance during the German Occupation of France. It was then that he adopted four different pseudonyms to evade the Gestapo; one of them — Abbé Pierre — stuck. In 1949, he founded Emmaus in France — it soon expanded around the world as Emmaus International — which was dedicated to improving the lot of the most vulnerable people in society, by providing housing for the homeless, the disabled, and refugees. In 1954, Abbé Pierre first gained national attention by persuading the French government to pass a law forbidding landlords from evicting tenants during the winter.

He set up a series of Emmaus stores, where people could donate household goods — furniture, linens, utensils, candle holders, ceramics, tools, everything you can imagine. Those goods, in turn, would be cleaned up and put on sale at modest prices. The amounts brought in by the Emmaus stores are then spent on support for the poor, especially the homeless, providing both temporary shelter and longer-term affordable housing, help with vocational training and job placement, and a steady support system for those who are alone, disabled or addicted. There are 425 local branches of Emmaus worldwide, in 41 countries, and many thousands of Emmaus stores all over the world.

Because of his work setting up Emmaus, and for being a staunch advocate for the poor, Abbé Pierre was for a long time been the most admired man in France. His funeral in 2007 was attended by the Great and Good of France, including then-President Jacques Chirac, former President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, and many other high officials and clerics.

But there is a fly in this ointment. When it came to Israel, Abbé Pierre’s warm heart turned cold. Despite his work in the Resistance, which included helping a Jewish couple escape from the Gestapo, he had no sympathy for the embattled Jewish state. He did not understand that the Arab aim was to destroy Israel, and replace it with a twenty-third Arab state. The Palestinians, being in his eyes the weaker party, naturally attracted his sympathy, for he “was always on the side of the weak.” He apparently forgot that the Palestinians have twenty-two Arab states, and another three dozen non-Arab Muslim countries staunchly behind them, offering financial, diplomatic, and in some cases, military support, as in the wars of 1948, 1967, and 1973.

So I was pleased to see that the Great Man, with his Palestinian sympathies, has posthumously had his reputation undone, beyond repair. For it turns out he was a serious sexual abuser of both women and girls. As the head of Emmaus International, delegate-general Adrien Chaboche, said recently, that image of Abbé Pierre had now changed beyond recognition.

“From now on,” he said, “Abbé Pierre – for everyone, and especially for the people that have been victims of violence – is the picture of a sexual predator.”

Twenty-four women have so far come forward with allegations of sexual assault and harassment against the man born as Henri Grouès, accusing the once-celebrated priest of non-consensual kissing, forced fellatio, rape and sexual contact with children, including 17 new allegations released as part of a new report published in July 2024

Many of his victims were minors. The youngest was eight years old at the time the abuse occurred.

Portraits, statues, and frescoes of Abbé Pierre in France are now being taken down and destroyed. His name has been erased from Emmaus stores and logos, from street signs, from schools, from prizes. The Abbé Pierre Foundation is to change its name, and the Abbé Pierre memorial center in Esteville, Normandy, where the late monk resided for many years, will close permanently.

We can only hope that that embarrassed distancing from this sexual predator will extend to include his ill-informed and unpleasant views on Israel and the Palestinians.