The Roman Catholic Church faces another public reckoning when a French cardinal goes on trial Monday for his alleged failure to report a pedophile priest who confessed to preying on Boy Scouts and whose victims want to hold one of France's highest church figures accountable.

Nine alleged victims of the Rev. Bernard Preynat have summoned Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, 68, as a defendant in France's most prominent clergy sex abuse case yet. Another archbishop, a bishop and the Vatican official in charge of sex abuse cases also are among the defendants ordered to court in the southeastern city of Lyon to answer allegations of a cover-up.

Alexandre Hezez, 44, who is among those who brought the case to trial, says "this trial is an action to move justice forward."