Bernard Preynat, 74, is believed to have sexually abused scores of boys over a 30-year period

This article is more than 8 months old

This article is more than 8 months old

The victims of a paedophile priest at the heart of the biggest scandal to hit the Catholic church will face their attacker in a French court.

Bernard Preynat, 74, who has been defrocked, is believed to have sexually abused scores of boys over a 30-year period, many of them while they attended catechism classes or Boy Scout camps he ran.

Even after he admitted he was “sick” and had a problem with children, he was allowed to remain a priest in his diocese in Lyon.

He appeared in court on Monday, almost 40 years after he is thought to have begun abusing the boys in his charge.

The hearing was immediately postponed for 24 hours because of a strike by lawyers protesting outside the court against the government’s pension reforms.

Preynat, who is facing 10 charges of “sexual aggression” against boys aged seven to 15 between 1971 and 1991, has admitted the abuse.

Asked by the judge for his view on the postponement, the disgraced priest told the court: “I would like this trial to happen as quickly as possible. It is five years since the legal case began and when I met some of the victims during the investigation, I heard their suffering for which I am guilty,” he said.

Nine victims were expected to give evidence in the case out of more than 90 who are believed to have come forward. Many of the claims have been deemed legally out of date.

Preynat’s abuse of young boys was known, documented and covered up by his superiors in the diocese, who were accused of putting the church’s reputation before the victims’ suffering.

In an apologetic letters to parents, Preynat admitted he was “sick” and “had a problem with children”, but was allowed to keep working with young people and run scout camps.

Last March, his superior, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, was convicted of failing to report the abuse and failing to protect the children. He was given a suspended six-month sentence but has appealed against his conviction.

The abuse is the subject of a film by the French director François Ozon, called By the Grace of God, which echoed the words Barbarin said when asked why he had not acted to remove Preynat from contact with children.

“By the grace of God most of these cases are now out of date,” he replied, referring to the statute of limitations.

Ozon, who met some of Preynat’s victims, told the Observer in October: “Preynat was honest and that was part of the drama. He never denied it. He said he had a problem with kids; he sent letters to the parents in the 1990s in which he admitted it. Barbarin knew about it. Still nothing happened.”

Preynat could face 10 years in prison if convicted.