Georges Marie Martin Cottier

"The contribution of historians was in fact indispensable. The Church wished to ask for forgiveness not in a disordered manner but with effective knowledge of that happened because from the truth there is nothing to fear. Moreover the Church wished to ask pardon from God and from mankind for the sins of some of her sons who, influenced by the mentality of the times, may have used violence in the name of truth, and while asking for forgiveness she recognises that the sins of her sons are her own."