Two French priests have committed suicide in the past month after being accused of sexual misconduct.

According to AFP, the body of Pierre-Yves Fumery was found on Saturday after he hanged himself inside his church in the small town of Gien, in the Loire Valley.

The 38-year-old had been questioned by the area's public prosecutor after accusations of 'inappropriate behaviour' towards a minor, including that 'he took a girl in his arms', the news agency reported. He had not been charged at the time of his death.

Orleans bishop Jacques Blaquart said it was a 'moment of suffering and a tragic ordeal', the news agency reported.

Fumery had taken a temporary leave of absence at the recommendation of the bishop and had only just returned on October 8.  He had not yet resumed his duties, according to the BBC. 

He is the second priest in France to take his own life in the space of a month after the suicide in September of Jean-Baptiste Sebe.

The priest, 38, also hanged himself in his church in Rouen, northern France, after a woman accused him of sexually assaulting her adult daughter, although the BBC reports that at the time of his death, no formal complaint had been made.

France has not been immune from the sex abuse scandal that has badly shaken the worldwide Catholic Church.

French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin is to stand trial in January for allegedly covering up a child sex abuse scandal in the Archdiocese of Lyon.