Canadian cardinal resumes work after Vatican ends sex assault probe

MONTREAL, Canada - An influential Canadian cardinal suspended after he was accused of sexually assaulting a minor said Monday he had taken up his post again, after Vatican investigators said they found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Cardinal Gerald Lacroix, the 66-year-old archbishop of Quebec and a member of the pope's so-called C9 advisory council of nine cardinals, had been accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the 1980s.

Lacroix was suspended in January. He denies the allegations against him.

The claims against Lacroix date back to 1987 and 1988, when the alleged victim was 17, and are part of a class action suit against more than 100 priests in the archdiocese.

In May the Vatican said an inquiry into Lacroix's behavior had turned up no evidence of wrongdoing.

However, the retired judge who wrote that report later published a statement saying he lacked an important evidence in that he was unable to meet the plaintiff.

Lacroix issued a statement Monday saying, "it's been a rough stretch for me but the conclusions of the probe, the support of my family and friends ... lead me to resume serenely my ministry."

The plaintiff's lawyer, Andre Arsenault, called the Vatican probe flawed, telling AFP back in May: "In no way is this an independent justice system."

Lacroix has been Quebec's archbishop since 2011 and a cardinal since 2014. — Agence France-Presse