Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline

Photo: Gael Barrera

Metropolitan Archbishop of Marseille, France

Dioceses/Religious Orders: Archdiocese of Marseille

In May 2023, Fr. Charles Sighieri was sentenced to two years in prison, three years probation, mandatory treatment, and a ten-year ban on professional or voluntary activities involving minors for sexual assault of seminarians. Aveline had sent a report on three allegations against Sighieri to the public prosecutor in December 2019 after the country-wide Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church (CIASE) investigation had prompted French dioceses, including Marseille, to conduct internal audits. After the diocese’s internal investigation, Sighieri was suspended from ministry at Saint-Loup and La Capelett in Auriol in January 2020. Parishioners had said of Sighiere’s absence, “One day, he disappeared, we didn't understand why.”

In September 2023, Sighiere had been permitted to officiate at a funeral. Sighiere’s parishes and the public were not informed of his conviction until November 2023, after Pope Francis’ visit to Marseille in September 2023. La Provence reached out to the Archdiocese of Marseille on November 4, 2023 and were denied an interview, but shortly afterward the diocese sent a newsletter on “Father Sighieri’s situation.” La Provence reported that Vicars General Pierre Brunet and Xavier Manzano claimed to have only learned of the judgement against Sighieri on September 8, 2023 and subsequently reopened the canonical investigation, temporarily banning Sighieri from public ministry and hearing confessions. As of May 2025, Sighiere is listed as a priest on the Archdiocese of Marseille website.

At Pope Francis’ visit at  "Rencontres Méditerranéennes," Cardinal Aveline allowed Bishop Emeritus of Gap, Jean-Michel di Falco, accused of raping and abusing a boy in the 1970s, to join in the celebration be included in a group photo of the bishops. Di Falco had filed a defamation complaint against his accuser who had filed a criminal complaint in 2001 and a civil case in 2016 for alleged rape and sexual assault between 1972 and 1975 while di Falco was principal of the Saint Thomas d’Aquin school. The accuser’s complaints had been dismissed due to the statute of limitations, but the accuser’s attorney had claimed that at one point Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, whom Bishop di Falco had served as an auxiliary for six years from 1997 to 2003, had been prepared to dismiss di Falco. A second victim came forward in 2016 saying his 2002 report against di Falco had been dismissed.