Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix is cleared by the Vatican of allegations of sexual touching which had been made against him by an anonymous complainant as part of a collective action.
The Vatican announced Monday that the investigation it had commissioned into the allegations failed to confirm any acts of misconduct or abuse on the part of the archbishop of Quebec, so no further proceedings canonical is not provided in this folder.
It was the former Superior Court judge, André Denis, who was mandated to lead the investigation in February. He completed the report of his preliminary investigation on May 6, then transmitted it to Pope Francis in the following days.
According to the Vatican, “in light of the facts examined by the judge, the report does not make it possible to identify acts constituting misconduct or abuse on the part of Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix.”
In a statement, the Vatican thanked Judge Denis for his work and specified that the latter had received authorization to publish a memorandum summarizing the elements of his investigation.
Judge Denis will hold a press conference late Tuesday morning in Quebec to present his conclusions. For his part, Cardinal Lacroix plans to react “soon”, according to the diocese of Quebec.
The name of Mgr Lacroix was found in legal documents filed on January 26 as part of a class action brought against the Archdiocese of Quebec by alleged victims of sexual assault.
The allegations against him dated back to 1987 and 1988. The alleged victim was 17 years old at the time of the first alleged assault.
Cardinal Lacroix strongly denied these allegations. In a video, he claimed to have never, to his knowledge, made any inappropriate gesture towards anyone.
However, he announced that he was temporarily stepping down from his duties until the situation was clarified.
Mgr Lacroix is one of the most influential Catholic figures in Canada. When he was named archbishop of Quebec in 2011, he automatically became “primate of the Catholic Church of Canada”. Pope Francis designated him a cardinal in January 2014.