A priest working in northwest France has been charged after being accused of drugging and raping a 15-year-old he met by way of a homosexual relationship app, prosecutors and authorized sources stated Thursday.

The priest from a rural parish close to Rennes has been charged with aggravated rape and administering medication to a minor after arranging a gathering in Paris final week on the app Grindr.

The 50-something clergyman proposed a number of medication to the boy in a lodge room, together with ecstasy-derivative MDMA and a substance that resembled GHB, a infamous date-rape narcotic, RTL radio reported.

The males had intercourse, however the boy felt ailing afterwards and alerted pals.

The case is the most recent in a deluge of sexual assault scandals which have severely undermined the church in France.

After an inquiry final yr revealed the stunning scale of sexual abuse by clergymen in current a long time, French Catholics have been left surprised once more earlier this week by the confessions of a cardinal.

Jean-Pierre Ricard, one of many nation’s most senior Catholic figures, admitted to “reprehensible” acts with a 14-year-old lady within the Eighties on Monday, sparking a judicial enquiry.

Church leaders revealed on the identical day that one other 10 retired or serving bishops confronted sexual abuse allegations.

The priest from Rennes informed investigators he usually got here to the capital to satisfy males for drug-fuelled hook-ups in inns, RTL reported.

He denied the rape allegations, saying the boy indicated he was over 18 on his Grindr profile and he had not requested any questions.

“I can imagine how men and women will be outraged by this case,” the archbishop of Rennes, Pierre d’Ornellas, stated in a press release, including that he had alerted the Vatican in regards to the arrest and fees.

He named the priest as Yannick Poligne, including: “I understand and can assure you of my determination to take action.”

A church-backed inquiry that reported its findings final yr discovered that an estimated 216,000 minors had been abused by clergy over the previous seven a long time.