(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 18.08.2022).- The Holy See Press Office issued a press release about the situation of Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, regarding the accusation by an anonymous woman in Quebec.

In regard to the accusations that have appeared in the press in recent days, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Matteo Bruni, said that: “having concluded the preliminary investigation entrusted by the Pope to Father Jacques Servais, S.J., whose conclusion  was that evidence doesn’t exist to begin a process against Cardinal Ouellet for sexual aggression,” Father Servais was consulted again and he said the following:

“There are no reasons to open an investigation on the sexual aggression to person “F.” by Cardinal M. Ouellet. Neither in her written report sent to the Holy Father, nor in her testimony via Zoom, which I took subsequently in the presence of a member of the Ad Hoc Diocesan Committee, did this person make any accusation that gave ground for such an investigation.” 

The Director of the Holy See Press Office added that “after new pertinent consultations, Pope Francis states that there is not enough evidence to open a Canonical Investigation for Cardinal Ouellet’s sexual aggression against person F.”

The accuser told the Canadian press that she wrote the Pope in January of 2021. She was notified later that the Pontiff appointed Father Jacques Servais to investigate the accusation. It is in this framework that Father Servais’ statements were made, who first interviewed the woman on Zoom and later personally. No material was found for a Canonical Investigation. 

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