Cardinal Marc Ouellet, cited for a time among the favorites to become pope, is accused of sexual assault. A woman explains that she was forcibly kissed and touched when he was stationed in Canada. These accusations were revealed on Tuesday August 16 in the context of a collective complaint concerning 80 priests in total, a complaint filed in Canada against the diocese of Quebec. A case that causes embarrassment in the Vatican.
Between 2008 and 2010, a woman (whose name has not been revealed) did an internship under Marc Ouellet in Quebec. She is 23 years old, her professional future depends on the cardinal. And on the sidelines of several public events, he kisses her then touches her back and buttocks, she explains in her complaint. When she finally dares to talk about it, years later, she is told that she is not the only one to have this kind of ” problem ” with him.
Leona Huggins is a member of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, an American association that brings together survivors of sexual violence committed by priests: “ Cardinal Ouellet is the prefect of the congregation of bishops. This means that he appoints bishops all over the world. If these accusations are confirmed, what hope does this leave for the current leadership of the Catholic Church? How many people in the Episcopal Conference of Canada and the Vatican knew about it, but said nothing? »
Before participating in this collective complaint against the diocese of Quebec, the woman who accuses Cardinal Ouellet had written to Pope Francis two years ago. She was heard last year by a theologian appointed by the Vatican to investigate her case. But she has not yet been informed of the findings of the investigation.
Vatican silence and embarrassment
There is silence in the Vatican, unaccustomed to communicating on this kind of scandal, despite the desire for transparency desired by Pope Francis on the issue. But the questioning of Cardinal Ouellet obviously causes embarrassment in the smallest state in the world, reports our correspondent in Rome, Eric Senanque.
For years, the Quebec cardinal has indeed been one of the most powerful figures in the Curia. Since 2010, Marc Ouellet has been the prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, a strategic position that brings him to meet the pope every week, the appointments of each diocese in the world pass first on his desk. During the 2013 conclave, he was one of the “papabili”, favorites to succeed Benedict XVI, but had to line up behind Cardinal Bergoglio.
Formerly close to Benedict XVI, he has always shown unwavering loyalty to Francis, as in October 2018, when he responded in an open letter to the accusations of the former nuncio in the United States accusing the pope of having covered Cardinal McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, charged with pedophilia. Despite his influence, the cardinal, aged 78, should soon be replaced. The name of his successor could be known at the end of the month, during a consistory organized in Rome, a meeting of all the cardinals around the sovereign pontiff.