Sexual abuse allegations

A judge has found sexual misconduct accusations against Quebec’s Cardinal Marc Ouellet to be unfounded and ordered his accuser to pay him $100,000.

The judge's verdict in a Canadian defamation suit brought by Cardinal Marc Ouellet against Paméla Groleau, a former lay pastoral worker in the Archdiocese of Québec, who accused the prelate of sexual misconduct, is not expected for some months.

A priest in the Archdiocese of Toronto has had his priestly faculties restored after charges of indecent assault against him were withdrawn by the Crown Attorney’s office.

All charges against a Canadian priest have been dropped in an American court.

French Archbishop Guy de Kerimel of Toulouse defended his appointment of a priest convicted of sexually abusing a minor as diocesan chancellor, saying that he had "chosen the path of mercy."

Fr. Carlos Martins, a Canadian priest, exorcist and co-host of The Exorcist Files podcast, pleaded not guilty Jan. 27 in an Illinois court to a misdemeanor charge of battery over an alleged incident that took place during a national relic tour.

A decades-old sexual assault allegation has entwined the priest who stands accused and a bishop who is now under a Vatican probe for allegedly not taking the complaint seriously.

A lawsuit launched in March has accused Fr. Thomas Rosica, the national director of World Youth Day 2002 in Toronto, of sexually assaulting a young priest in the lead up to event.

“I reiterate my innocence,” Quebec City Cardinal Gérald Lacroix says in a six-minute video that the Archdiocese of Quebec released on its YouTube channel.

A preliminary canonical investigation found no evidence of abuse or misconduct committed by Cardinal Gérald Lacroix of Québec, who had been anonymously accused of abuse, the Vatican said.