The Pope spoke after reports circulated in Canada about Cardinal Ouellet, 78, the current prefect of the Congregation for Bishops (one of the most important positions in the government of Vatican).

The complaints were made by a woman identified as “F.”, who claimed to have been repeatedly assaulted by the cardinal.

Ouellet was accused of touching a woman between 2008 and 2010 while he was archbishop of Quebec, according to court documents admitted in May by the provincial Superior Court.

“F.” was a pastoral agent when the events allegedly occurred, and the report was made directly to the Vatican in January 2021.

the spokesperson for VaticanMatteo Bruni, indirectly confirmed that the Pope Francis hired the Jesuit Jacques Servais to carry out a “preliminary investigation” into these allegations.

“The preliminary investigation entrusted by the Pope to Father Jacques Servais has concluded that there are no elements to start a trial against Cardinal Ouellet for sexual assault”, we read in the note.

Questioned again after the latest allegations in Canada, “Servais confirmed that there are no grounds to open an investigation into the sexual assault of person F. by Cardinal Ouellet”, indicates Bruni in the note .

“Neither in the written report sent to the Holy Father, nor in the testimony via Zoom that I later collected in the presence of a member of the “ad hoc” Diocesan Committee, did this person make any accusation that would give rise to such an inquiry”, says the Jesuit.

The revelations also come three weeks after the pontiff’s trip to Canada, during which he apologized for abuses committed by members of the Church at Catholic boarding schools for natives.

During this historic six-day visit, considered a “penitential” trip, the pope publicly acknowledged the errors and horrors committed by the Church for decades.

This complaint is part of the testimonies of 101 people who claim to have been “sexually assaulted” by more than 80 clergy and lay leaders of the diocese of Quebec since June 1940, according to court documents.

According to F.’s complaint, Cardinal Ouellet kissed her and slid his hand down her back to her buttocks. When she encouraged herself to talk about these facts, she knew “she wasn’t the only woman who had this kind of ‘problem’ with him,” the court documents state.

It was not until 2020 that F., who says she had also been sexually assaulted by another cleric, spoke about it to the advisory committee on sexual abuse of the diocese of Quebec.

The organization then recommended that he write a letter to the Pope Francis. The pontiff responded by appointing Father Servais to investigate the cardinal.

Among the favorites to be pope at the last conclave, which elected Argentinian Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 2013, Ouellet also served as president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, for which he is known across the region.

The scandal adds to the flood of allegations of sexual abuse committed for decades by clerics against minors around the world, an abominable crime within the Church, which the Pope Francis promised to punish severely.

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