“You are bastards, distinguished members of the diocese”: victims of sexual assault, their supporters and lawyers marched through the streets of Quebec this Tuesday, March 26 to raise awareness about sexual violence perpetrated by members of the church and invite other victims to speak .
The diocese of Quebec in Canada is the target of a class action launched in 2022 and brought by more than 140 people who claim to have been “sexually assaulted by more than a hundred priests or staff members of the diocese, some of whom which several victims.
“You guys are bastards.”
Several members of the Quebec high clergy are the subject of these accusations, including Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, a close advisor to the Pope, as well as Cardinal Marc Ouellet, who until 2023 held one of the most important functions within the Curia, the central administration. of The Holy See. Both deny the facts.
During the march, protesters, mostly elderly, planted crosses symbolizing the victims in front of the Notre-Dame Basilica in Quebec.
“You are bastards, distinguished members of the diocese, pedophiles or not, turning a blind eye to a crime like that, as if it had not happened, is for me as guilty as having committed it. What a shame!” said a septuagenarian. present at the march, cane in hand.
The latter, who preferred to remain anonymous, claims to have been raped “on numerous occasions” by a director of the diocese when he was 12 years old and claims to have “carried this defect all (his) life.”
“Sixty years of waiting to obtain justice, you deserve what is happening to you, your disappearance,” he continued addressing the diocese, with tears in his eyes.
An investigation requested by the Pope
Another victim admits to having hesitated to come because “this type of event brings up not only what happened during the attack, but also all the consequences it could have had on my life.” If he did it it was out of “solidarity with all the victims.”
“The diocese must understand that we are here until the end. I have been working on the file for 14 years, I am not even close to it for a few years,” continued Pierre Bolduc, representative of the victims.
In early March, the Pope asked a former Quebec judge to investigate Cardinal Gérald Cyprien Lacroix, who retired from his duties in the diocese. The fight against sexual violence in the Church is one of the projects of Francis’ pontificate, which defends a policy of “zero tolerance” in the face of the multiplication of scandals.
Source: BFM TV
