Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, in turn, is overwhelmed with allegations of sexual assault as part of the class action lawsuit against the Diocese of Quebec.
The alleged attacks occurred in Quebec between 1987 and 1988. The alleged victim of Mgr. Gérald Cyprien Lacroix was 17 years old at the time.
TVA Nouvelles learned that the acts accused of the Archbishop of Quebec involve sexual touching that occurred during two events.
The teenager came from a very pious family. The acts allegedly committed by Gérald Cyprien Lacroix occurred during a biblical meeting where the 17-year-old young woman accompanied her parents.
Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, a priest at the time, would have taken them aside in a room behind a closed door and made sexual gestures towards them.
The alleged victim, now in her 50s, would have kept the secret because she didn't want to hurt her very religious parents.
“In this case, Mr. Lacroix is said to have told the victim: “Don’t tell anyone about this, especially not your parents, it could kill your mother, a devout Catholic.” So she waited until her mother died. She called us for the first time the day after her mother's funeral,” explains Me Alain Arsenault of the law firm Arsenault, Dufresne, Wee, which is leading the class action lawsuit.
Parish of Notre-Dame-de-Recouvrance
From 1982 to 1987, Gérald Cyprien Lacroix was Secretary General of the Order of Pius.
He was subsequently ordained a deacon on March 25, 1988 and a priest on October 8 of the same year in the parish of Notre-Dame-de-Recouvrance in the Archdiocese of Quebec.
The lawsuit against the Diocese of Quebec counted 101 victims in 2022. There are now 147 alleged victims, including the one who accuses the Archbishop of Quebec, Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, 66 years old.
“The dominance of the Catholic Church was that it managed to suppress all of this for decades. It is certain that it will shake the pillars of the church. The first reaction will be silence and denial, it's terrible. They want revenge,” emphasizes Me Arsenault.
Accusations against Marc Ouellet
Over the years, alleged victims have reported nearly 90 clergymen.
In August 2022, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who was tipped to be pope, also became the subject of an allegation of sexual assault by an intern. The alleged facts date back to 2008. Mgr. Ouellet completely denies these claims.
“Having become aware of the false accusations that the complainant (F.) has made against me, I firmly deny having made any inappropriate gestures against her,” affirmed Msgr. Ouellet in an August 2022 statement on the Vatican information site published statement.
The reprehensible acts against the 147 alleged victims are said to have been committed from the 1940s to the present day.
VAT News