Fresh accusations of historic sexual assault have been made against late French Catholic priest and Emmaus founder, Abbé Pierre.
In July, allegations of sexual assault towards seven women were made public by the charity - who stated at the time that they believed the accusations and stood by the victims of abuse.
According to the July report published by Emmaus International and the Abbe Pierre Foundation, Pierre reportedly committed acts that could be interpreted as sexual harassment or assault to victims, including one minor between the late 1970s to 2005.
Pierre, a lifelong campaigner for the homeless died in 2007.
The charity-commissioned report said his alleged victims were employees and volunteers from some of their member organisations or young women in Abbe Pierre's personal entourage.
Speaking at the time, the French Bishops' Conference said it was "deeply saddened to learn of reports of sexual assaults committed by Abbé Pierre against women who came to work at Emmaus".
On Friday the charity revealed a further 17 testimonies of alleged sexual violence committed by Pierre, including accusations of rape and abuse of a young girl.
In a joint statement the Abbé Pierre Foundation, Emmaus France and Emmaus International reaffirmed their “full support” for the victims, praising their courage in coming forward.
“We believe them and we stand by their side,” they said.
The Egaé report said a majority of the testimonies described “unsolicited contact on the breasts or forced kisses” while several testimonies reported “repeated sexual contact on a vulnerable person” and “repeated acts of sexual penetration on a person over 18”, as well as “comments of a sexual nature, forced kisses and other sexual contact on a child".
The allegations relate to incidents between the 1950s to the 2000s.
Emmanus denounced the late founder's alleged actions, stating that its movement “fights all forms of violence".
“Its place is therefore to denounce all intolerable acts, regardless of the perpetrators,” it added.
A listening and support system, set up by the charity, will remain open until the end of this year.
The Abbé Pierre Foundation has announced it will change its name, while the Abbé Pierre memorial centre in Esteville, Normandy, will close permanently.
The board of Emmaus France is set to vote on whether to remove the priest’s name from its logo, and Emmaus International is to form a commission of independent experts to “understand and explain the dysfunctions that allowed Abbé Pierre to act as he did for more than 50 years".
