(LifeSiteNews) — The former U.S. district superior for the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) was sentenced to one year in a French jail after admitting in April to having molested seven underage boys between 2002 and 2018 in France, Spain and Switzerland. 

French outlets reported that a criminal court in Gap sentenced Father Arnaud Rostand, 58, to 12 months in prison with deferred incarceration. He is also required to undergo four years of “socio-juridical” monitoring and psychiatric treatment, as well as provide compensation for his victims.  

Rostand served as the SSPX’s U.S. District Superior from August 2008 through August 2014 per the request of then-SSPX Superior General Bishop Bernard Fellay. Father Davide Pagliarani of Italy succeeded Fellay for a 12-year term in 2018.  

Ordained in 1993, Rostand led a school in Paris between August 1998 and August 2006. He was named District Superior of Canada between August 2006 and August 2008 before serving the U.S. District. 

In court, Rostand said that he informed the SSPX via letter in 1998 that he had an “attraction” to children. He stated that he informed the SSPX about this again in 2000, then in 2006 and 2013.  

LifeSite reporter Michael Haynes previously attempted to contact SSPX headquarters in Menzingen, Switzerland for clarity on the matter but did not receive a response.  

On April 5, the SSPX published an initial statement, though it did not name Rostand. The statement, which was reissued on April 15 for the U.S. and Canada, claimed that “at no time and in no way were the actions of this priest covered up by his Superiors.”  

It also noted that “in 2014, after ambiguous and inappropriate attitudes were brought to their attention, the Society’s Superiors withdrew the incriminated priest from the apostolate, entrusting him with administrative tasks without any responsibility, and under appropriate disciplinary supervision, firstly in Switzerland and then in Canada from 2019.” 

Rostand’s own public details record that he worked as SSPX communications director in the Society’s headquarters in Switzerland between 2014 and April 2019. The role entailed having to “coordinate the collaboration between the various institutions of the priestly society and oversee public relations matters.”  

After this, he was named district secretary of Canada from April 2019 through June 2022, according to public details.  

The Society’s deleted statement maintained that “after his arrival in Canada (2019), the Society’s superiors became aware of the existence of offenses, under the jurisdiction of the courts, and they immediately reported them to the judicial authorities in accordance with the norms in force in our society and strengthened his disciplinary framework. Following this report, the necessary investigations were launched, culminating in the recent trial.” 

Various Traditional Catholic influencers have debated whether the SSPX has adequately addressed the Rostand affair or if it is trying to brush it under the rug to avoid responsibility. 

Catholic Family News editor-in-chief Brian McCall said on a podcast in April that he “hopes” the SSPX will respond to Rostand’s claim that he informed his superiors about his attraction toward minor boys previously. “It is not clear from public information what the superiors knew or understood about Fr. Rostand between 1998 and 2014,” McCall wrote in a May op-ed. “It would certainly be helpful if this could be clarified.” 

Other unverified reports allege that R9stand was not entirely restricted in his ministry while in Canada. Rather, he performed baptisms and said public Masses on occasion.  

Rostand was arrested in December 2023, having been based in the Monastery of Our Lady of Montgardin in the Western Alps since 2021, apparently on orders of Pagliarani. The monastery has been used as a place of seclusion for priests (including disgraced SSPX clergy) to dedicate themselves to a contemplative life.  

As reported by LifeSite’s Haynes, abuse group Collectif des Victimes FSSPX has stated that the “measures” the SSPX took against Rostand “were ineffective, contrary to what is claimed, as the touching continued until 2018. This was the year in which Superior General Davide Pagliarani put him back in contact with the faithful in Menzingen, after four years on communications assignments. We had to wait until 2019 for psychiatric follow-up, 21 years after the first warnings!” 

Rostand’s sentencing comes on the heels of the May 28 arrest of another French SSPX priest, Fr. Jean-Luc Radier, who is alleged to have abused a pre-teenage boy in the 1990s. 

This journalist previously reported on allegations and actual instances of abuse by priests within the SSPX in the United States several years ago. Click here to access those stories.