“Pope Francis says there is insufficient evidence to launch a regular (including religious) sexual abuse investigation by Cardinal Ouellet
Pope Francis has ruled out, “due to a lack of sufficient evidence”, a new investigation against Canadian Cardinal Mark Ouellet who has been accused in his country of sexual harassment, as Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said today.
“Pope Francis declares that there is insufficient evidence to initiate a regular (i.e. religious) investigation of sexual abuse by Cardinal Ouellet against the person F. (the letter by which the plaintiff is referred to)” is noted in terse statement issued by the representative.
Marc Ouellet, 78, former archbishop of Quebec, is today the head of the Bishops’ Conference, one of the most important institutions of the Vatican. In 2020, F. claimed that during the time she was an intern, between 2008-2010, she was sexually harassed by the cardinal and also by a colleague. The Quebec Diocese of Quebec’s Sexual Abuse Advisory Committee then recommended that she turn to Pope Francis, who responded by assigning cleric Jacques Cervet to investigate the case.
Based on the evidence collected by Cervet, the pope decided not to investigate Ouellet further. The spokesman’s statement, written in Italian, includes – unusually – the statement, in French, that Cervet made to the pontiff when he contacted him and was assured that there was no reason to continue the investigation. “There is no valid reason to open an investigation into sexual assault against F. by Cardinal M. Ouellet,” Servais was quoted as saying.
RES-EMP
Read the News today and get the latest news. Follow us on Google News and be the first to learn all the news from Skai.gr.
