The official, who said he was not authorized to speak publicly about an investigation while it was in process, said that the employee, whose name has not been made public, was in his 30s and worked for the city’s international relations department. On the day he said the sexual assault took place, he was charged with greeting and guiding the archbishop before the ceremony.



Archbishop Ventura, the apostolic nuncio to France, has been the Vatican’s diplomatic representative in Paris since 2009, and he has regularly attended the ceremony, during which the mayor meets with religious leaders and the diplomatic corps. But the City Hall official said this was the first time a city employee had complained about the archbishop’s behavior.

The employee accused Archbishop Ventura of touching his buttocks on three occasions, the official said, first when the Vatican envoy arrived at City Hall, greeting him and complimenting him on his physical appearance. The employee said he thought the gesture might have been involuntary, according to the official.

But the archbishop touched the man’s buttocks a second time several minutes later, this time more forcefully, according to the official, who said “there was no more doubt for the employee that this act was voluntary.”

The employee sought to distance himself from the archbishop, going to another room, but the archbishop followed him and touched his buttocks a third time, the official said. In that instance, four other City Hall employees were witnesses.