![](\"https:\/\/thedialog.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/08092138\/HB.140.LB_.1.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\nCastonguay concluded that Groleau\u2019s testimony against the now 82-year-old Cardinal Ouellet \u201cwas neither credible nor reliable,\u201d noting in his judgment that she had changed her story several times.<\/p>\n
Two other women testified against Cardinal Ouellet at the trial, but the judge ruled their testimony was not pertinent to the question of whether Groleau defamed the cardinal. He also concluded Cardinal Ouellet was \u201cnot the author of the gestures\u201d brought into evidence by one of the women.<\/p>\n
The allegations against the cardinal surfaced in 2022 as part of a class-action lawsuit launched against the Archdiocese of Quebec and dozens of clergy and lay members. In response, Cardinal Ouellet publicly denied any wrongdoing and countered with a $100,000 (US $72,230) defamation countersuit against his accuser, claiming she had damaged his reputation, honor and dignity.<\/p>\n
After the lawsuit was filed, the Vatican chose not to launch its own investigation into the cardinal. In a statement issued Aug. 18, 2022, by Matteo Bruni, then director of the Press Office of the Holy See, the Vatican found there were \u201cinsufficient elements to open a canonical investigation for sexual assault by Cardinal Ouellet against person F,\u201d as Groleau was identified at the time.<\/p>\n
In his ruling, Castonguay said the damage to Cardinal Ouellet \u2014 former archbishop of Quebec who would serve as prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops under Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis \u2014 and his reputation was \u201camplified by the chosen vehicle, meaning that of a class action aimed principally at religious pedophiles, thereby equating Cardinal Ouellet, in the eyes of the \u2018ordinary citizen,\u2019 with that group of individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said it \u201cis difficult to quantify\u201d the true impact of the allegations against Cardinal Ouellet and awarded him the $100,000 he sought.<\/p>\n
The class action against the Archdiocese of Quebec was ratified Aug. 12, with the Quebec Superior Court approving a $31.5 million (U.S. $22.66 million) out-of-court settlement for people who say they were sexually abused by members of the church dating back to 1940.<\/p>\n
In a statement about the ruling in favor of their client, Cardinal Ouellet\u2019s lawyers were pleased the court recognized the injustice suffered by the cardinal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis judgment reaffirms a fundamental principle: even in the context of judicial proceedings, serious allegations must be based on accurate and relevant facts and advanced with the rigor required by their gravity,\u201d said Dominique M\u00e9nard in the statement.<\/p>\n
The cardinal has promised to donate the damages he was awarded to organizations fighting against sexual abuse experienced by Indigenous Canadians.<\/p>\n
The class action also accused Quebec\u2019s current archbishop, Cardinal G\u00e9rald Lacroix, of sexual misconduct. After stepping aside for six months in early 2024, Cardinal Lacroix resumed his role after a Vatican-mandated investigation found no evidence to support the accusations.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
kabarsula SLOT <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A judge in Montreal has found sexual misconduct accusations against Quebec\u2019s Cardinal Marc Ouellet to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kabarsula"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kabarsula.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}