Sex-abuse priest's promotion draws ire

A French archbishop's decision to promote a priest who was sentenced to jail for raping a teenaged boy has drawn new condemnation of the Roman Catholic Church for its record on sex abuse.

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Victim support groups and traditionalists have expressed outrage over the case of Dominique Spina, who was found guilty of raping a 16-year-old boy in 2006 and sentenced to five years in prison.

The archbishop of Toulouse, Guy de Kerimel, set off the controversy in June when he named Spina as diocesan chancellor, putting him in charge of archives.

The canonical code lays down that the chancellor must be “of honest reputation and above all suspicion”.