Canadian Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, a senior adviser to Pope Francis, has been named in a class-action lawsuit accusing him of sexual assaults in 1987 and '88. The suit accuses Lacroix of sexually touching a female teenager without her consent on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reports. A new filing adds more than a dozen suspects and 46 people who say they were victims to the original suit against the Catholic Archdiocese of Québec, which was filed in 2022. Alain Arsenault, the lawyer handling the suit, said those accused "were protected for a long time," per AFP, and now feel freer to speak out. The law firm said the suit includes 147 people who say they were sexually assaulted by a total of more than 100 priests.
Lacroix, 66, is on a temporary leave of absence from his job while the case proceeds, the archdiocese said Friday. "He categorically denies the allegations, which he judges as unfounded," the emailed statement says. An archdiocese spokesman said, "We are still in shock trying to understand the new developments." Lacroix, 66, has led the archdiocese since 2011. He's a member of the church's international Council of Cardinals, which advises the pope on governance issues, and the Council for the Economy, which oversees financial affairs. (More Catholic Church stories.)
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