ROME – After an anonymous allegation arose against close papal aide Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix of Québec earlier this year, a preliminary canonical investigation launched by Pope Francis has found no evidence of misconduct.
On 25 January, Lacroix was named in a class action lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec in 2022, with court documents alleging that he inappropriately touched a 17-year-old girl on two occasions: in 1987 and 1988. His accuser was not identified.
Lacroix subsequently denied the allegations but made the decision to withdraw from leadership of the archdiocese while an investigation took place.
According to a 21 May Vatican statement, after the allegations against Lacroix arose Pope Francis on 8 February asked Justice André Denis, a retired Judge of the Superior Court of Québec, to conduct a preliminary canonical investigation of the accusation. That inquiry concluded on 6 May, and the results were presented to Pope Francis shortly after.
“In the light of the facts examined by the judge, the report does not permit to identify any actions that amount to misconduct or abuse on the part of Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix,” the Vatican’s statement said, stating that, as a result, “no further canonical procedure is foreseen”.
Denis has been granted permission by the Pope to issue a statement summarising his investigation and granting him authorisation to answer any questions that might arise.
The Vatican’s statement expressed the Pope’s “profound thanks” to Denis for having completed the inquiry “with impartiality” and in a timely manner.
A former missionary in Colombia, Lacroix, 66, played a leading role in Pope Francis’s 2022 visit to Canada. In March 2023, he was named by Francis to his Council of Cardinal Advisors, making him one of the Pope’s most important advisors on matters of Church governance and reform.
During last year’s session for the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-church-is-christs-how-to-respond-to-the-synod-on-synodality/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Synod of Bishops on Synodality</mark></a>, Lacroix was among seven participants elected by the synod to oversee its concluding document, and he is expected to travel to Rome again in October of this year for the second and final session of the synod.
He was part of a lengthy list of alleged perpetrators in the Quebec lawsuit, which covers anyone who was sexually assaulted by archdiocesan personnel since 1940 and involves 147 alleged victims. In all, 15 people associated with the archdiocese have been named in court documents.
The allegations against Lacroix make him the second Canadian cardinal to be named in the same class-action abuse lawsuit, after allegations against Cardinal Marc Ouellet, former head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, were lodged in 2022 over alleged inappropriate touching in 2008.
A Vatican investigation later found “no grounds” for any action against Ouellet, who filed a countersuit against his accuser for defamation in December 2022. Ouellet’s accuser later claimed that two other women have come forward with abuse allegations against him, which Ouellet likewise has denied.<br><br>In a <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/pope-discusses-globalisation-of-indifference-in-famous-us-television-news-show/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">recent interview</mark> </a>shown on the famous US television news show <em>60 Minutes</em>, the Pope addressed the issue of clerical sexual abuse within the Church.
The Pope said that it “cannot be tolerated” and that “when there is a case of a religious man or woman who abuses, the full force of the law falls upon them”.
He added that “in this there has been a great deal of progress”, while also saying that the Church “must continue to do more”.
“Unfortunately, the tragedy of the abuses is enormous,” the Pope said, adding that set against this an “upright conscience” must not only “not permit it but put in place the conditions so that it does not happen”.
<em>Photo: Archbishop of Quebec Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, alongside Pope Francis, arrives at the National Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, Canada, 28 July 2022. (Photo by VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images.)</em><em></em>
ROME – After an anonymous allegation arose against close papal aide Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix of Québec earlier this year, a preliminary canonical investigation launched by Pope Francis has found no evidence of misconduct.
On 25 January, Lacroix was named in a class action lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec in 2022, with court documents alleging that he inappropriately touched a 17-year-old girl on two occasions: in 1987 and 1988. His accuser was not identified.
Lacroix subsequently denied the allegations but made the decision to withdraw from leadership of the archdiocese while an investigation took place.
According to a 21 May Vatican statement, after the allegations against Lacroix arose Pope Francis on 8 February asked Justice André Denis, a retired Judge of the Superior Court of Québec, to conduct a preliminary canonical investigation of the accusation. That inquiry concluded on 6 May, and the results were presented to Pope Francis shortly after.
“In the light of the facts examined by the judge, the report does not permit to identify any actions that amount to misconduct or abuse on the part of Cardinal Gérald C. Lacroix,” the Vatican’s statement said, stating that, as a result, “no further canonical procedure is foreseen”.
Denis has been granted permission by the Pope to issue a statement summarising his investigation and granting him authorisation to answer any questions that might arise.
The Vatican’s statement expressed the Pope’s “profound thanks” to Denis for having completed the inquiry “with impartiality” and in a timely manner.
A former missionary in Colombia, Lacroix, 66, played a leading role in Pope Francis’s 2022 visit to Canada. In March 2023, he was named by Francis to his Council of Cardinal Advisors, making him one of the Pope’s most important advisors on matters of Church governance and reform.
During last year’s session for the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-church-is-christs-how-to-respond-to-the-synod-on-synodality/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Synod of Bishops on Synodality</mark></a>, Lacroix was among seven participants elected by the synod to oversee its concluding document, and he is expected to travel to Rome again in October of this year for the second and final session of the synod.
He was part of a lengthy list of alleged perpetrators in the Quebec lawsuit, which covers anyone who was sexually assaulted by archdiocesan personnel since 1940 and involves 147 alleged victims. In all, 15 people associated with the archdiocese have been named in court documents.
The allegations against Lacroix make him the second Canadian cardinal to be named in the same class-action abuse lawsuit, after allegations against Cardinal Marc Ouellet, former head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Bishops, were lodged in 2022 over alleged inappropriate touching in 2008.
A Vatican investigation later found “no grounds” for any action against Ouellet, who filed a countersuit against his accuser for defamation in December 2022. Ouellet’s accuser later claimed that two other women have come forward with abuse allegations against him, which Ouellet likewise has denied.<br><br>In a <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/pope-discusses-globalisation-of-indifference-in-famous-us-television-news-show/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">recent interview</mark> </a>shown on the famous US television news show <em>60 Minutes</em>, the Pope addressed the issue of clerical sexual abuse within the Church.
The Pope said that it “cannot be tolerated” and that “when there is a case of a religious man or woman who abuses, the full force of the law falls upon them”.
He added that “in this there has been a great deal of progress”, while also saying that the Church “must continue to do more”.
“Unfortunately, the tragedy of the abuses is enormous,” the Pope said, adding that set against this an “upright conscience” must not only “not permit it but put in place the conditions so that it does not happen”.
<em>Photo: Archbishop of Quebec Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, alongside Pope Francis, arrives at the National Shrine of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré in Quebec, Canada, 28 July 2022. (Photo by VINCENZO PINTO/AFP via Getty Images.)</em><em></em>
