A retired Canadian judge said Tuesday he couldn’t find any reliable evidence of sexual misconduct by the archbishop of Quebec, after the purported victim refused to cooperate together with his investigation and the cardinal strongly denied the claim.
Pope Francis had tasked André Denis, a retired judge of the Superior Court of Québec, to conduct a preliminary investigation for the Catholic Church into claims against Archbishop Gérald Lacroix that surfaced in January.
The allegations were contained in an amended class-action lawsuit filed in Canadian court against 100 current and former church personnel of the archdiocese.
Denis’ investigation has no bearing on that lawsuit and concerns only the church’s handling of the allegations, for the reason that Vatican has its own procedures to take care of misconduct claims against clergy. The Vatican said Tuesday that based on Denis’ report, it planned no canonical trial against Lacroix, 66.
Francis appointed Lacroix a cardinal in 2014, was welcomed by Lacroix during a 2022 visit to Quebec and last 12 months made him a member of his Council of Cardinals, nine top prelates from across the globe who advise him on church matters.
Lacroix had removed himself from day-to-day work on the archdiocese in January, after the allegations were added onto the unique 2022 class-action criticism against the archdiocese. The allegations against him date back to 1987 and 1988 and were made by a girl who was 17 on the time, in keeping with the criticism.
Lacroix strongly denied the claims on the time of his auto-suspension and did so again when interviewed by Denis, the judge said.
“He affirmed with conviction that he never carried out the actions with which he was accused,” Denis said. “The elements gathered in the course of the investigation make it implausible that the events related to the cardinal occurred,” Denis told a news conference in Quebec City.
However, Denis also said the alleged victim refused to be interviewed by him to supply her side or to offer him access to her court filing. He acknowledged his investigation consequently was incomplete. It just isn’t unheard of for victims to refuse to cooperate with church investigations, especially while civil claims are proceeding.
“I’m unable to say whether or not the alleged act took place,” Denis said. “I’m even unable to discover a spot, an event, a precise date or every other circumstance. The plaintiff’s refusal to co-operate in any way with my investigation has left me at a loss.”
He said if the purported victim does eventually wish to collaborate, he would ask the Vatican to increase his mandate.
The same class-action lawsuit also accused Lacroix’s predecessor, Cardinal Marc Ouellet of misconduct, claims he strongly denied. Francis shelved a church trial against Ouellet in 2022 after a priest investigator determined there weren’t enough elements to bring forward a canonical trial.
In that case, the priest interviewed the alleged victim by Zoom.
While local dioceses often turn to put experts to conduct preliminary investigations into abuse or sexual misconduct allegations, it’s rare for the Vatican to entrust such an investigation to a non-priest.
In a press release, the archdiocese of Quebec said it welcomed the developments on the canonical investigation but said Lacroix had decided to proceed to stay “on the sidelines” of the day-to-day work of the archdiocese until the civil litigation is resolved.
The statement “deplored” the delays within the lawsuit attributable to the addition of recent defendants and expressed its willingness to barter an out-of court settlement.
“On behalf of the Church, we wish to precise our sensitivity to the suffering of survivors of sexual abuse and people who are looking for justice and reparation,” said Auxiliary Bishop Marc Pelchat, who has temporarily taken over day-to-day running of the archdiocese. “We are determined to contribute to a just settlement.”
___
Gillies contributed from Toronto.
