A preliminary Vatican canonical investigation conducted by a retired Canadian judge has “not identified any actions that amount to misconduct or abuse by Cardinal Gérald Lacroix of Quebec,” the Vatican announced on May 21.
No further canonical action will be undertaken.
Cardinal Lacroix, the Primate of Canada and a member of the Pope’s nine-member Council of Cardinals, was accused of abuse in January as part of a class-action lawsuit. The lawsuit alleged that Lacroix assaulted an unnamed 17-year-old girl in the late 1980s.
“The Holy Father extends his profound thanks to Judge André Denis for having completed, within the prescribed time, the mandate entrusted to him and which he carried out with impartiality in the context of the class action lawsuit brought against the Archdiocese of Quebec,” the Vatican announcement concluded.