The Church will not look further into his case. For lack of“sufficient elements”Pope Francis has refused to open a new canonical investigation against Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, accused of sexual assault in his country, according to the Vatican spokesman, Thursday August 18.
A person, designated by the initial “F.”, recounts having been the victim of inappropriate touching by Marc Ouellet, at the time Archbishop of Quebec, between 2008 and 2010, when she was an intern. She claims that in 2008, the cardinal repeatedly massaged her shoulders “with force”stroked her back while holding her back “firmly against him”and that the Cardinal moved closer to her as she tried to avoid him, giving her “the feeling of being chased”.
In 2010, she explained to cross paths with Marc Ouellet again. In a court document, she states that the cardinal decides to “kiss her again” and to say that“There is no harm in indulging a little”. The man then “slipped his hand” along his back “up to her buttocks”according to the testimony of F.
The victim wrote about this to Pope Francis in 2020, on the recommendations of the advisory committee on sexual abuse of the diocese of Quebec. In 2021, the sovereign pontiff responds by appointing “Father Jacques Servais to investigate Cardinal Marc Ouellet”now prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, one of the most important functions of the Vatican government.
After a preliminary investigation, Father Sevrais considered that the complainant “n / A [pas] made a charge which would provide grounds for such an investigation”, “neither in his report written and sent to the Holy Father, nor in the testimony via Zoom (…) subsequently collected in the presence of a member of the ad hoc diocesan committee”. The spokesman for the Holy See specifies that Father Servais was again contacted by the Pope, to whom he assured that there was no need to continue the procedure.
F.’s case is among the testimonies of a hundred people who say they have “been sexually assaulted” by more than 80 members and lay employees of the Diocese of Quebec, between June 1940 and today. A class action was authorized by the Superior Court of Quebec in May.