A Montreal judge has ruled that the allegations of sexual misconduct against Quebec Cardinal Marc Ouellet are unfounded and has ordered his accuser to pay him $100,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cardinal, who had been retired since April 2024, had been under suspicion ever since Pam\u00e9la Groleau accused him of touching her without her consent on three occasions between 2008 and 2010, while she was training or working as a lay pastoral agent. She also testified in court that she felt \u00abharassed\u00bb at another event, stating that Cardinal Ouellet approached her from across the room to sit next to her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00abThe court finds that the allegations describing the four incidents cited by Ms. Groleau in the context of the class-action lawsuit are false,\u00bb wrote Superior Court Judge Martin Castonguay in a decision published on August 31.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Castonguay concluded that Groleau's testimony against Cardinal Ouellet, now in his eighties, \u00abwas neither credible nor reliable,\u00bb noting in his ruling that she had changed her account several times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two other women testified against Cardinal Ouellet during the trial, but the judge ruled that their testimony was not relevant to determining whether Groleau had defamed the cardinal. He also concluded that Cardinal Ouellet \u00abwas not the author of the gestures\u00bb presented as evidence by one of the women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The allegations against the cardinal surfaced in 2022 as part of a class-action lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec and dozens of clergy and laypeople. In response, Cardinal Ouellet publicly denied any wrongdoing and filed a $100,000 (US$72,230) counterclaim for defamation against his accuser, alleging that she had damaged his reputation, honor, and dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the complaint was filed, the Vatican chose not to launch its own investigation against the cardinal. In a statement issued on August 18, 2022, by Matteo Bruni, then director of the Holy See Press Office, the Vatican concluded that there was \u00abinsufficient evidence to open a canonical investigation into sexual assault by Cardinal Ouellet against Person F,\u00bb as Groleau was identified at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In his opinion, Castonguay stated that the harm suffered by Cardinal Ouellet\u2014the former archbishop of Quebec who would serve as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis\u2014and to his reputation was \u00abamplified by the chosen vehicle, namely, a class-action lawsuit directed primarily against religious pedophiles, thereby equating Cardinal Ouellet, in the eyes of the \u2018ordinary citizen,\u2019 with that group of individuals.\u00bb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He said that \u00abit is difficult to quantify\u00bb the true impact of the allegations against Cardinal Ouellet and granted him the $100,000 he had requested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The class-action lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec was certified on August 12, when the Superior Court of Quebec approved an out-of-court settlement of $31.5 million (US$22.66 million) for individuals who claim to have been victims of sexual abuse by members of the church since 1940.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a statement regarding the ruling in favor of their client, Cardinal Ouellet's attorneys expressed their satisfaction that the court recognized the injustice suffered by the cardinal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00abThis ruling reaffirms a fundamental principle: even in the context of legal proceedings, serious allegations must be based on specific and relevant facts and presented with the rigor required by their gravity,\u00bb Dominique M\u00e9nard stated in the press release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The cardinal has promised to donate the compensation he was awarded to organizations that fight against sexual abuse suffered by Indigenous Canadians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The class-action lawsuit also accused the current archbishop of Quebec, Cardinal G\u00e9rald Lacroix, of sexual misconduct. After stepping aside from his post for six months in early 2024, Cardinal Lacroix resumed his duties after a Vatican-ordered investigation found no evidence to support the allegations.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Un juez de Montreal ha dictaminado que las acusaciones de conducta sexual inapropiada contra el cardenal de Quebec, Marc Ouellet, son infundadas y ha ordenado a su acusadora que le pague 100.000 d\u00f3lares. El cardenal, retirado desde abril de 2024, hab\u00eda estado bajo sospecha desde que Pam\u00e9la Groleau lo acus\u00f3 de tocarla sin su consentimiento […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2425,"featured_media":64086,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualidad"],"yoast_head":"\n