Cardinal faces sexual assault raps

Class suit alleges that Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, 66, abused the victim, 17.

Cardinal Gerald Lacroix has been accused in Canada of sexually assaulting a female teenager, as part of a class action lawsuit against the archdiocese of Quebec, court documents showed Thursday.

The 66-year-old Lacroix is facing claims of abuse dating back to 1987 and 1988, when the victim was 17, attorney Alain Arsenault, who is handling the suit, told AFP.

Arsenault said victims are feeling freer to speak out, and that those accused “were protected for a long time.” He expects more victims to come forward and join the suit.

Lacroix, who is close to Pope Francis, has been the archbishop of Quebec since 2011 and a cardinal since 2014. He has served since last year on the pontiff’s Council of Cardinal Advisors, which meets regularly at the Vatican.

The legal action, an updated filing of a case first brought in 2022, features testimony from 147 people who claim they were sexually assaulted by more than 100 priests in the archdiocese, some of them high-ranking clergy, his law firm said in a statement.

The new filing reflects the addition of 46 victims, and names more than a dozen new suspects.

Valerie Roberge-Dion, spokesperson for the archdiocese of Quebec said in a statement: “We are still in shock trying to understand the new developments.”

In the original suit, cardinal Marc Ouellet was accused of sexually abusing a female intern from 2008 to 2010.

Ouellet, who persistently denied what he called “defamatory” allegations, resigned in January 2023 from his position at the Vatican due to his age.

DOMINIQUE JACOVIDES/POOL/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE FRENCH President Emmanuel Macron (3rd from left), escorted by French ambassador to India, Thierry Mathou (2nd from left) and French Minister for the Armed Forces Sebastien Lecornu (4th from left), attends a welcoming ceremony at Amber Fort in Jaipur, where he is to meet with artists and craftsmen as part of his official trip to India. Macron was given a red carpet reception in India on 25 January with a welcome parade of elephants, as France eyes lucrative deals with the world’s fifth-largest economy.