Pope Francis has ruled out the opening of a “canonical inquiry” by Cardinal Marc Ouellet of Canada lack of evidence, said the spokesperson for the Vatican this thursday (18). The Canadian has been accused in his country of sexual abuse.

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

The denunciations 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 province’s Superior Court.

“F.” was a pastoral worker when the events allegedly took place, and the complaint was filed directly with the Vatican in January 2021.

Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni indirectly confirmed that Pope Francis had instructed Jesuit Jacques Servais to conduct a “preliminary investigation” into the accusations.

Again consulted after the latest allegations in Canada, “Servais has 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 deposition via Zoom that I later collected in the presence of an “ad hoc” member of the Diocesan Committee, did this person make any accusation that would give rise to such an inquiry,” the Jesuit said.

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

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

According to F.’s complaint, Cardinal Ouellet kissed her and passed his hand down her back to her buttocks. When she was encouraged to speak up about these facts, she learned “she wasn’t the only woman who had this kind of ‘problem’ with him,” the court documents say.

It was not until 2020 that F., who says she had also been sexually assaulted by another member of the clergy, 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 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 Pope Francis has promised to punish severely.