Paris: Cardinal Jean-Pierre Ricard, one of the highest-ranking Catholic bishops in France, admitted on Monday that he molested a 14-year-old girl 35 years ago and is resigning from his position as priest.

The action was taken in response to a report published last year that found several cases of child sexual abuse within the French Catholic Church.

In a written statement, Ricard admitted that 35 years ago, when he was a priest, he had treated a young 14-year-old girl inappropriately.

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He said, “My actions have inevitably had serious and long-lasting consequences for this man. Until he retired in 2019 to work in his home diocese of Dignes-les-Bains in the south of France Ricard, 78, served as Archbishop of Bordeaux in south-western France. He served as a priest in the Archdiocese of Marseille in the 1980s.

Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the French Episcopal Conference, made the announcement at a news conference on Monday.

According to Moulins-Beaufort, Ricard is one of 11 current and former bishops who have been accused of sexual abuse in various cases under investigation by French legal or church authorities.

Ricard claimed without elaboration that he had spoken to the victim and begged her for forgiveness. He claimed that by making his statement, he was also pleading for an apology to "everyone I hurt". He did not go into much detail.

Ricard has said that he has "decided not to remain silent about [his] position any longer" and is available to the nation's justice system as well as church officials.

This comes at a time when the French Catholic Church recently began offering financial compensation to victims of child sexual abuse.

Over the course of 70 years, 33,000 children in France were sexually abused by priests or other members of the clergy, according to a comprehensive study conducted last year and published by an independent commission.

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Altogether about 216,000 were the victims of abuse by priests and other clerics and the remaining victims of abuse by church leaders such as Scoutmasters and camp counselors.

The estimates were based on a more comprehensive investigation into child sexual abuse conducted by France's National Institute of Health and Medical Research.

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The French Catholic Church was urged to uphold the French constitution and the rule of law after church officials uncovered a "systemic" coverup.