This Tuesday the Vatican announced the decision to exonerate Gérald Cyprien Lacroix of the suspected sexual assault in your country. The ruling was made following a report on the case that Pope Francis requested from a former Quebec judge.
The 66-year-old cardinal had been accused of “sexual abuse” of a minorwithin the framework of a class action lawsuit against more than a hundred members of the Quebec diocese. However, according to a statement published by the Holy See, “The report does not identify any acts of misconduct or abuse by Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix“.
The Vatican’s decision
Gérald Cyprien Lacroix was finally exonerated of his accusation of “touching” a minor in the framework of a class action lawsuit against more than a hundred members of the Quebec diocese. The Canadian cardinal was being investigated by the dome of the Holy See for said complaint.
The original lawsuit against Lacroix – who serves as archbishop of Quebec since 2011 and cardinal since 2014 – states that the religious man would have “touched” a minor between 1987 and 1988. Faced with this accusation, it was Pope Francis himself who requested a report from Judge André Denis.
Through a letter, on February 8, the highest leader of the Catholic Church requested “carry out an investigation into the facts, circumstances and imputability of the alleged crime“Finally, Denis accepted the assignment, specifying that the report would be “submitted to Pope Francis, who will decide what measures to take.”
The magistrate also headed the commission investigating the French cleric Joannes Rivoire, 93, accused of sexually assaulting young people in Canada in the 1960s. The preliminary canonical investigation carried out by Judge Denis ended on May 6, 2024 and Their conclusions were communicated to Pope Francis “in the following days,” according to the Vatican.
Finally, having studied the report, The Holy See decided to exonerate the Canadian cardinal. In the statement of the decision, the Vatican assured that “The report does not identify any acts of misconduct or abuse“.
Who is the cardinal who was exonerated?
The cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix He has been archbishop of Quebec since 2011 and cardinal since 2014. The Canadian was one of the nine members of C9he council of cardinals created by Francis to assist you in government of the Church.
Lacroix began his ecclesiastical career in 1975, when he was accepted into the Pius X Secular Institute belonging to the Archdiocese of Quebec, taking perpetual vows in 1982. In that same year he was appointed General secretary and in 1985 Director of the General Council and the Christian formation of the institute and the spiritual center until 1987, where just a year later he was ordained a priest on October 8, 1988 by the diocesan archbishop Mons.
It was in 2022 when the Canadian was put in the eye of the storm. It is that, during that year, a collective complaint who gathered the testimonies of 147 people who claim to have been “sexually assaulted” for more than “a hundred priests or members of the diocese staff“.
According to the complaint, Lacroix was accused of sexual abuse of a minor, committed between 1987 and 1988. However, the cardinal denied the accusations from day one.
When the case broke out, Lacroix recorded an almost six-minute video in which he addressed the faithful of the Quebec diocese. “I categorically deny the accusations made public. I have never, to my knowledge, taken inappropriate actions towards anyone, whether minors or adults.. “My soul and my conscience are at peace in the face of these accusations that I refute,” the Canadian cardinal stated in the video.
Now, the Canadian – who is close to the Pope Francisco – was exonerated by the Holy See. It remains to be seen if Lacroix recovers his position as archbishop of Quebec, which he had temporarily abandoned in January following the accusations.
Source: Ambito
