Vatican cardinal sues for defamation in Quebec assault claim

FILE - Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet attends a Mass for the election of a new pope celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, not pictured, inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. A Vatican cardinal sued a Canadian woman for defamation in Canadian court on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022 after she accused him of sexual assault when he was archbishop of Quebec. Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vaticans bishops office, is seeking $100,000 in compensatory damages for injury to his reputation, honor and dignity, according to a copy of the complaint provided by Ouellets office. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File) (Andrew Medichini, Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

ROME ā€“ A Vatican cardinal sued a Canadian woman for defamation in a Canadian court on Tuesday after she accused him of sexual assault while he was archbishop of Quebec.

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, head of the Vaticanā€™s bishopsā€™ office, is seeking 100,000 Canadian dollars (US$74,000) in compensatory damages for ā€œinjury to his reputation, honor and dignity,ā€ according to a copy of the complaint provided by Ouelletā€™s office.

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The woman, identified only as F., was one of several people who brought a class-action lawsuit against the archdiocese of Quebec in August that accused several priests, including Ouellet, of sexual abuse or assault. F. accused Ouellet of inappropriate, sexual touches on four occasions in the late 2000s.

Ouelletā€™s countersuit, filed Tuesday in the Superior Court in Quebec, repeats the cardinalā€™s firm denial and says he has no recollection of meeting F.

His lawsuit said that even if the allegations were true, the womanā€™s specific claims about his alleged behavior could not be construed as ā€œsexual assaultā€ or sexual abuse of minors, which are other crimes included in the class-action lawsuit.

ā€œTo associate Mr. Ouellet with such acts creates, in the mind of the ordinary citizen, the perception that Mr. Ouellet is an individual of the same ilk, which he is clearly not,ā€ the cardinalā€™s lawsuit says.

It said he had experienced ā€œsignificant psychological anguishā€ since the woman's allegations went public and that his international reputation was ā€œseriously tarnished.ā€

Pope Francis shelved a church investigation into Ouellet after a priest investigator interviewed F. and determined there werenā€™t grounds for further investigation. The Vatican said the investigator determined the woman didnā€™t bring forward accusations that warranted it.

Calls seeking comment from F.ā€™s attorney were not immediately returned.

In a statement, Ouellet said victims of sexual abuse are entitled to justice and compensation and said he was sensitive to their suffering.

ā€œTheir right to justice is not questioned by my taking this stand, which is nevertheless painfully necessary to defend the truth, my reputation and my honor,ā€ he said.

He said any damages awarded would be donated to the ā€œfight against sexual abuse of Indigenous peoples in Canada.ā€

___

Robert Gillies contributed from Toronto.


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