Cardinal Marc Ouellet takes part in the Pontifical Council for Culture’s Plenary Assembly on Women’s Cultures in Rome, Feb. 6, 2015. / Bohumil Petrik/CNA.
Denver Newsroom, Aug 19, 2022 / 10:00 am (CNA).
Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, on Friday denied having made inappropriate gestures on a woman who has alleged he sexually assaulted her.
“Having become aware of the false accusations made against me by the complainant (F.), I firmly deny having made inappropriate acts on her person and I consider the interpretation and dissemination of these allegations as sexual assaults defamatory,” Ouellet said Aug. 19.
“If a civil investigation should be opened, I will actively participate in it so that the truth is established and my innocence is recognized.”
Ouellet was accused of sexual assault by a woman identified as F. in a civil suit filed against the Archdiocese of Quebec Aug. 16.
He is accused by a woman who says that he assaulted her multiple times while she worked as a pastoral intern for the Quebec archdiocese between 2008 and 2010, while he was Archbishop of Quebec. She described him kissing her and sliding his hand down her back to her buttock.
A Vatican spokesman said Aug. 18 that the conclusion of a preliminary investigation by Father Jacques Servais, SJ, found “that there are no elements to initiate a trial against Cardinal Ouellet for sexual assault.”
The Vatican statement included a quote in French from Servais, who said that “there are no grounds to open an investigation into the sexual assault of F. by Card. M. Ouellet. Neither in his written report sent to the Holy Father nor in the testimony via Zoom that I subsequently took in the presence of a member of the Diocesan Ad Hoc Committee, did this person make an accusation that would provide grounds for such an investigation.”
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni added that “following further pertinent consultations, Pope Francis declares that there are insufficient elements to open a canonical investigation for sexual assault by Cardinal Ouellet against person F.”
The class action suit in which the allegations were made includes the testimony of 101 people who say they were sexually assaulted by clerics or Church staff from 1940 to the present. Eighty-eight clerics face accusations in the suit.
The suit says that F. wrote to Pope Francis about Ouellet in January 2021, and she received an email Feb. 23, 2021 had appointed Servais to investigate the cardinal. Her last communication with Servais was the following month, and as of now “no conclusion concerning the complaints against Cardinal Marc Ouellet has been sent” to her.
Ouellet, 78, was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Amos in 1968, at age 23. He joined the Sulpicians in 1972. In 2001 he was appointed secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and consecrated a bishop.
He served as Archbishop of Quebec from 2002 to 2010, when he was appointed prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.
Ouellet has been outspoken about sex abuse, and priestly formation.
At a 2018 meeting of the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences of Europe, he said that “We would need participation of more women in (training) of priests” to prevent abuse.
He reiterated this point in a 2020 interview with Donne Chiesa Mondo, saying, “for the priest, learning to relate to women in the context of formation is a humanizing factor which promotes the balance of man’s personality and affectivity.”
The cardinal said he thought the Church would benefit greatly from an increased presence of women on seminary formation teams, as theology, philosophy, and spirituality teachers, and “in particular in vocational discernment.”
Ouellet verbally sparred with Archbishop Vigano as details of Vatican knowledge of Theodore McCarrick emerged in recent years.
In an October 2018 letter, Ouellet said it was communicated to Vigano in 2011 that McCarrick “had to obey certain conditions and restrictions because of rumors about his behavior in the past,” and that he “was strongly urged not to travel and not to appear in public, in order not to provoke further rumours about him. It is false to present the measures taken against him as ‘sanctions’ decreed by Pope Benedict XVI and annulled by Pope Francis.”
And in January 2019, Ouellet wrote that his congregation had blocked the U.S. bishops from voting on proposals to address the sex abuse crisis in November because it believed more time was needed to discuss the measures.
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A welcome testament to the faith by Pope Francis. Perhaps he doesn’t hold to enforcing doctrine on abortion and the Eucharist as a matter of pastoral preference. Although therein is the exact line of demarcation to permitting misunderstanding of Church policy and abuse of the sacraments, and restoring the practice of the faith as a good shepherd.
Tying more knots is not undoing knots. If the first knots are bad the new knots add badness. Calling it undoing of knots is even worse; and misleading.
Using the name of the BVM deflecting attention from the new knots and the other knots not untied, is a bad thing too, piling on badness and injury.
If you admit you do not know enough about the juridical aspects, it doesn’t follow that allowing communion is “not political” or “not political consequences”.
Even if you knew the juridical issues down pat, giving communion also has “political consequences” and can unfold into “political” arranging and lunging.
If during the 20th Century a same type of casuistry admitted homosexuality to the extent we have witnessed, then: What do you think you are doing now?
In this Reuters posting, sourced from LIFESITE, there is a 3-minute video with some of the discussion directly coming from the Holy Father.
‘ In a 90-minute conversation on Saturday afternoon, conducted in Italian, with no aides present, the 85-year-old pontiff also repeated his condemnation of abortion following the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last month.
…..
Francis used a cane as he walked into a reception room on the ground floor of the Santa Marta guest house where he has lived since his election in 2013, eschewing the papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace used by his predecessors.
The room has a copy of one of Francis’ favourite paintings: “Mary, Untier of Knots”, created around 1700 by the German Joachim Schmidtner.
Asked how he was, the pope joked: “I’m still alive!” ‘
https://www.reuters.com/world/exclusive-pope-francis-denies-he-is-planning-resign-soon-2022-07-04/
We read: “Pope Francis told Reuters: ‘When the Church loses its pastoral nature, when a bishop loses his pastoral nature, it causes a political problem. That’s all I can say.’”
The false dichotomy regarding what is truly “pastoral”? The Laity, then, must turn to others who do have more to say…Surely, there’s more to say on what is actually the cause of the “political problem” and, within the Church, on the significant details of the sacramental life?
“A separation, or even an opposition, is thus established in some cases between the teaching of the precept, which is valid and general, and the norm of the individual conscience, which would in fact make the final decision [not moral judgment] about what is good and what is evil. On this basis, an attempt is made to legitimize so-called ‘pastoral’ solutions contrary to the teaching of the Magisterium, and to justify a ‘creative’ hermeneutic according to which the moral conscience is in no way obliged, in every case, by a particular negative precept [thou shalt not]” (Pope St. John Paul II, Veritatis Splendor, n. 56).
Does he reflect well on the church? Is he a man of constant prayer and devotion to the duties of a servant of Christ?
James 1:6-8 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
We must examine our ways constantly, our enemy is strong, yet Christ is stronger.
Then, by the Pope’s own reasoning, he has been a pastoral failure himself. He has not led Biden and Pelosi back to the Church relative to their unrelenting support and advancement of abortion on demand while claiming it is in accord with Catholic doctrine.
A feckless and increasingly ignored papacy.
I’ll go with Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, July 4.
From what I have read, the pope believes pro-abortion catholic politicians should be led through a dialogue with compassion and tenderness to see the error of their ways. Is this any way to treat Nancy Pelosi? What prominent politician has ever changed to pro-life from pro-choice because of a pastoral dialogue with his bishop? Politicians understand clearly the Church’s teaching; they just want to win elections and get money, power and votes any way they can.
Abp Cordileone has spent years talking with or trying to talk with Speaker Pelosi. In recent months (or longer), she’s not responded to his requests for conversation. So, he followed the path encouraged by Pope Francis. There simply comes a time when a line must be drawn. Endless talk leads to no action, which only perpetuates the problems.
From womb to tomb – life is sacred and a precious gift. Long live life.