(FILES) On this photograph taken and launched on July 28, 2022 by the Vatican press workplace, Pope Francis (R) and the Archbishop of Quebec, Cardinal Gerald Cyprien Lacroix, have a good time Mass on the Nationwide Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, Canada. An inquiry ordered by Pope Francis into an allegation of sexual assault towards a Canadian cardinal has discovered no proof of wrongdoing, the Vatican stated on Could 21, 2024. (Photograph by Handout / VATICAN MEDIA / AFP)
Vatican Metropolis, Holy See — An inquiry ordered by Pope Francis into an allegation of sexual assault towards a Canadian cardinal has discovered no proof of wrongdoing, the Vatican stated Tuesday.
Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the 66-year-old archbishop of Quebec and a member of the pope’s C9 advisory council, had been accused of sexually assaulting a teenage lady within the Nineteen Eighties.
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“Within the gentle of the information examined by the decide, the report doesn’t allow to establish any actions that quantity to misconduct or abuse on the a part of Cardinal Gerald C. Lacroix,” the Vatican stated in a press release.
“Consequently, no additional canonical process is foreseen.”
Nonetheless, the retired decide who wrote the report later revealed a press release saying he lacked an “necessary piece of proof” in that he was unable to satisfy the plaintiff.
The plaintiff’s lawyer Andre Arsenault known as the Vatican probe “flawed,” telling AFP: “By no means is that this an unbiased justice system.”
The claims towards Lacroix date again to 1987 and 1988, when the alleged sufferer was 17, and are a part of a category motion go well with towards greater than 100 monks within the archdiocese.
READ: Terrible fact: Baby intercourse abuse within the Catholic Church
Lacroix, Quebec’s archbishop since 2011 and a cardinal since 2014, denies the allegations.
In January, he stated he would pause his duties till the scenario was cleared up, however he attended a Council of Cardinals assembly on the Vatican final month.
‘Solely reservation’
Pope Francis requested retired decide Andre Denis in February to evaluate the information within the case and set up if there was sufficient proof to warrant a canonical — or Church — trial.
Denis has beforehand studied hundreds of sexual misconduct allegations towards the Church relationship again to the Nineteen Forties, and authored a report that confirmed or substantiated dozens of claims.
In a press release Tuesday, he stated it was the primary time within the latest historical past of the Catholic Church that the pope had chosen a lay particular person to analyze a cardinal’s conduct.
Explaining his choice, Denis stated his findings made it “implausible” that the alleged assault by the cardinal occurred — however with a caveat.
“My solely reservation was that I used to be not capable of meet the plaintiff as I’d have preferred to do. I’m disadvantaged of an necessary piece of proof,” he stated, explaining that he had sought a number of occasions to satisfy her or have entry to her criticism, however she refused.
Arsenault stated his consumer maintains “clearly all of those accusations,” and can proceed to pursue the cardinal in a Canadian courtroom. Extra testimonies are being added to the category motion lawsuit every week, he added.
Denis’s report into Lacroix was concluded on Could 6 and delivered to the pontiff within the days that adopted, the Vatican stated in its assertion, which was translated into English and French, Canada’s two official languages.
Pope Francis thanked Denis for finishing up his probe throughout the timeframe requested and performing “with impartiality within the context of the category motion lawsuit introduced towards the Archdiocese of Quebec”.
The category motion lawsuit in Canada contains testimony from 147 individuals who declare they have been sexually assaulted by greater than 100 monks within the archdiocese, in response to courtroom paperwork.
Persevering with to assert his innocence, Lacroix will keep a low profile, whereas efforts proceed to attempt to attain an “out of courtroom settlement” of the lawsuit, the diocese stated in a press release.
Moreover Lacroix, the accused additionally embody Cardinal Marc Ouellet, as soon as thought of a robust candidate to be pope, who additionally says he’s harmless of the accusations.
Francis, 87, has insisted on a “zero tolerance” coverage on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, following a number of wide-reaching scandals, most involving minors.
In 2019, he defrocked then cardinal Theodore McCarrick, one-time archbishop of Washington.
A Vatican investigation discovered that McCarrick had hidden common sexual contact with grownup seminarians and at the least one minor.
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The Argentine pope has additionally created an advisory fee for the safety of minors, lifted papal secrecy on sexual abuse by clergy and obliged each clergy and lay folks to report all circumstances to their superiors.
