Cardinal Ouellet says defamation lawsuit seeks to 'restore my honour and my integrity'
· Toronto Sun
Marc Ouellet, the retired Quebec cardinal who once oversaw the Vatican’s powerful bishops’ office, testified Monday at the Montreal courthouse in the opening of a lawsuit in which he is seeking $100,000 for what he claims were defamatory allegations made by a woman who alleged he sexually assaulted her.
Ouellet, 81, filed the lawsuit in 2022 against Paméla Groleau, a former employee of the Quebec diocese. She has alleged in the past that she was sexually assaulted by Ouellet between 2008 and 2010. Her allegations were made as part of a class-action lawsuit filed against two organizations within the diocese and in comments Groleau made to the media.
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Ouellet retired in 2023. He was one of the few Vatican prefects Pope Francis retained from the papacy of Pope Benedict XVI.
Groleau alleged that Ouellet massaged her shoulders without her consent and ran his hand down her back until he touched the top of her buttocks. Monday represented the first time Ouellet commented publicly on the allegations. He said Groleau’s allegations placed him “in the same basket” as other members of the Catholic Church who sexually abused children and that he finds this unfair.
When the trial opened, Ouellet told the court he is not seeking personal material benefit and that any money awarded to him will go to Indigenous victims of sexual assault in Canada.
He also said he is seeking to “restore my honour and my integrity.”
His testimony ended Monday afternoon with a debate with Groleau’s lawyer, Alain Arsenault, over how many times he discussed allegations made against him, by Groleau and another woman, with Pope Francis, who died last year.
The civil trial will resume with a new witness on Tuesday.