Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet was a candidate to be pope. Now he is accused of sexual misconduct

Warning: The following story contains details of alleged sexual misconduct.

MONTREAL—Cardinal Marc Ouellet, a top Canadian cleric who once touted himself as a candidate to become pope, is said to be the subject of a Vatican investigation into sexual misconduct against an intern that occurred while he was archbishop of Quebec, it alleges. a recently filed lawsuit. .

The accusation against one of the most powerful members of the Roman Catholic Church, a man who is said to have placed third in the conclave that elected Pope Francis, is contained in a larger class action lawsuit that was filed in a Quebec court on Tuesday. .

The complainant, identified only as “F.”, alleges that, between 2008 and 2010, Ouellet hugged her, massaged her and, on one occasion, after an ordination at the Basilica of Notre Dame de Quebec in Quebec, touched her buttocks. .

She was an intern, between the ages of 23 and 25, while Ouellet was between 60 and 60 years old.

“At the time, Cardinal Ouellet was the most powerful man in the diocese of Quebec,” said Justin Wee, a lawyer with Montreal firm Arsenault Dufresne Wee.

A spokesman for the Diocese of Quebec acknowledged the allegations but declined to comment further.

The allegations have not been examined or proven in court and a defense statement has not yet been filed in the class action lawsuit, which seeks financial compensation on behalf of more than 100 alleged victims of 85 bishops, priests, deacons and lay members of the diocese

The complaint against Ouellet is yet another blow to an institution that is buckling under the weight of sexual abuse and historic misconduct.

The accusations against Ouellet come less than a month after Pope Francis’ visit to Canada, one aimed at apologizing and seeking reconciliation for the physical, psychological and sexual abuse of indigenous students at Catholic-run residential schools in Canada.

Ouellet was part of Francis’s Vatican delegation but kept a lower profile than might be expected from a man of his public stature, particularly when the pope traveled to Quebec City.

Meanwhile, in the United States, former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been criminally charged in connection with the repeated sexual assault of a 16-year-old boy in 1974, with allegations that he prayed while committing one of the offenses and then commanded the boy. Pray three Our Fathers and a Hail Mary to be forgiven of his sins.

McCarrick, who was expelled in 2019, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

The woman who made the allegations against Ouellet said the inappropriate contact and behavior began shortly after she began an internship with the Diocese of Quebec in August 2008.

At a lunchtime conference, she said, she was sitting in the back of the room when she felt two hands on her shoulders. She turned around to find Ouellet, whom she had just introduced, massaging her shoulders.

“F. remains frozen during the intrusion and does not know how to react,” the lawsuit brief says. “She is worried and an uncomfortable feeling follows her for the rest of the day.”

In November 2008, another priest asked Ouellet if he had been introduced to F., the new intern, “to which he replies very loudly that they both know each other very well.”

Ouellet begins to embrace the complainant familiarly, rubbing her back with his hands, whenever he sees her, the suit says.

On another occasion, he takes her in his arms and whispers in her ear to remember his name, although he seemed to forget F.’s name and position within the diocese, the suit alleges.

The final incident detailed in the statement of claim is alleged to have occurred in February 2010 at the ordination of a deacon at Quebec’s Notre-Dame Basilica, a stone church and pilgrimage site that has stood for most of four centuries in the heart of Quebec City.

“Ouellet tells her that this is the second time they’ve seen each other this week and that they can surely hug again because ‘there’s nothing wrong with pampering yourself a little,'” the suit alleges.

“Marc Ouellet then hugs her and slides his hand down F.’s back to her buttocks.”

Shocked, confused and scared, the complainant says she tried to avoid contact with Ouellet. But this had potentially ruinous consequences.

“His internship in the diocese of Quebec and his professional future depend on Cardinal Marc Ouellet,” the suit says.

And when she mentioned to others the discomfort she felt in Ouellet’s presence, she is alleged to have been told, “He’s so warm and she’s not the only woman who has this kind of ‘problem’ with him.”

The immediate problem was resolved when Ouellet was called to Rome by Pope Benedict in June 2010 and assumed the position of prefect of the Congregation of Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

In 2013, when Benedict retired, Ouellet was rumored to be among the frontrunners to fill his traditional red papal shoes at the secret conclave that is held to elect a pope.

Instead, Ouellet reportedly came in third behind Pope Francis.

It wasn’t until the fall of 2020, and after suffering repeated sexual assaults at the hands of another Quebec priest, Father Léopold Manirabarusha, between 2016 and 2018, the suit alleges, that F. decided to complain to church officials.

The suit says she went through sexual assault training, at which point she realized what she had suffered at Ouellet’s hands was unwanted touching of a sexual nature, and therefore sexual assault.

Her new husband and friends convinced her to report the abuse to a church committee. She did it on December 3, 2020, but she withheld the names of Ouellet and Manirabarusha. In an in-person follow-up meeting with church officials on December 12, 2020, F. was informed that the acts she reported experiencing at the hands of two clergymen, in fact, constituted sexual misconduct from the point of view of sexual misconduct. view of the church.

She then revealed the names of the men she says mistreated her when they should have guided her professionally and spiritually.

Things moved quickly from there.

In January 2021, the applicant was urged to write a letter to Pope Francis outlining her accusations against Cardinal Ouellet. A month later, she received an email informing her that the Pope had appointed a Belgian priest, Father Jacques Servais, to investigate the allegations.

The investigation has been long and unsatisfactory.

“Father Jacques Servais appears to have little information and training on sexual assault, other than possibly being an associate of Cardinal Marc Ouellet,” the suit says.

The last contact the plaintiff had with Servais was on March 23, 2021 and, to the best of her knowledge, no conclusion has been reached, the lawsuit says.

“Cardinal Ouellet, when he committed these acts, he knew what was going on,” Wee said. “He was an important and powerful man who knew the authority he exercised over others.”

Allan Woods is a reporter for the Star in Montreal. He covers global and national affairs. Follow him on Twitter: @WoodsAllan

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