Points Cœur

Points Cœur is a humanitarian non-governmental organization of Catholic origin, not affiliated with the Catholic Church, founded in 1990. It was challenged and excluded from the Catholic Church due to the conviction of its founder for sexual abuse.

History
Points Cœur was founded on January 4, 1990, in Paraná, Argentina, on the initiative of Father Thierry de Roucy, then Superior General of the Congregation of the Servants of Jesus and Mary. His intention was to create small communities of young people who could take in children who had been abandoned, neglected or victims of violence.

The first two houses, named "Points-Cœur" in 1990, were established in Argentina and Brazil, and were run by eleven volunteers. Between 1992 and 1999, 24 others were opened in 15 countries. In 1999, 150 volunteers from 15 countries were deployed in 20 countries.

Other Point-Cœur institutions
After Points-Cœur, Thierry de Roucy created three associations of priests and nuns which in 2017 had about one hundred members:

The Molokai Fraternity brings together seminarians and priests at the service of the Points-Cœur mission, under the name of Saint Damien of Molokai, "the Apostle of the lepers".

Founded in 1994, the Handmaids of the Presence of God is the religious branch of Points-Cœur, which brings together women who live the charism of Points-Cœur according to the apostolic religious state. Recognized by the diocese of Fréjus-Toulon as a private association of the faithful with a view to becoming a religious institute. They live in small communities of five or six spread over 4 priories: in Flassans-sur-Issole (France), in Peru, El Salvador and Argentina. Today there are 33 sisters of 7 different nationalities.

The Saint-Maximilien-Kolbe Fraternity gathers lay people who live the charism of Points-Cœur in the world, under the name of Saint Maximilian Kolbe.

Controversy
On 9 April 2013, the French newspaper La Croix reported that de Roucy had been convicted by the Ecclesiastical Court of Lyon (France) of sexual abuse and abuse of power towards an adult person after seven years of a complex trial during which he pleaded not guilty. This case has never been brought to a Civil Court. La Croix noted that the conviction took place in 2011 for a case dating back to 1996–97. The Vatican removed him from the clerical state in 2018.

Points-Coeur was stripped of its canonical status in 2020; it continued to describe itself as a 'Catholic NGO'.