Canadian Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the head of the Vatican's Dicastery for Bishops, has been accused of sexual misconduct by a second woman in the Quebec Archdiocese, a French newsmagazine reported on Jan. 18.
Golias Hebdo, a Catholic weekly based in Lyon, France, published a four-page investigation on the matter, including details of letters between the alleged victim, Quebec Cardinal Gérald Lacroix and Pope Francis.
According to the letters, Lacroix first wrote to Francis in September 2020 to alert the pontiff about the claim against Ouellet. Lacroix then later wrote to the claimant, named by the magazine as "Marie," in June 2021 to inform her of the outcome of an investigation into the matter ordered by Francis.
"The allegations of sexual misconduct that you brought to my attention a few months ago, directed at His Eminence Cardinal Marc Ouellet, have been directly transmitted by me to Pope Francis, the cardinal's immediate superior," wrote Lacroix to the woman.
Lacroix then indicated that Ouellet had been the subject of a preliminary investigation under the norms of Vos Estis Lux Mundi, the pope's 2019 law that established a system for evaluating claims of abuse or misconduct by Catholic bishops.
Francis, Lacroix said, had evaluated the claims and found "no reason" to continue with a fuller Vos Estis investigation.
The Quebec Archdiocese confirmed the authenticity of the letters to the Quebec-based news agency Présence on Jan. 19. Spokesperson Valérie Roberge-Dion said Lacroix alerted Francis of the allegation as soon as Lacroix became aware of it.