•Pope Leo XIV
A Catholic cardinal touted as one of the favourites to replace Pope Francis said he was “stepping back” from office yesterday after an investigation revealed at least five women had accused him of sexual assault.
Spanish-born Cristobal Lopez Romero, 74, the Archbishop of Rabat in Morocco, denies wrongdoing, reports AFP.
One woman who said he molested her made a written complaint about the cardinal in May to the Vatican embassy in Morocco, which our correspondent has seen.
She accused him of “particularly insistent and prolonged hugs” and “an attempt at physical intimacy that could be likened to an attempt” to kiss her, which she said she “barely managed” to avoid.
A church source in the archdiocese said at least five accounts describing similar incidents have been brought to its attention.
Lopez admitted he had been “accused of inappropriate behaviour towards adult women. This situation has led the Church to open a preliminary investigation,” he added in a written reply to our correspondent.
“I have committed neither assault nor violence nor sexual harassment,” he insisted.
But the archdiocese source condemned “a culture of complicity and silence” among those around the cardinal, accusing them of helping to protect him.
The source told our correspondent that “close associates” who have known the cardinal for years reported similar behaviour when he was a missionary in South America.
Lopez was known as a jovial “street priest” working with the poor and later became a leader of his missionary Salesian order in Paraguay, Bolivia and in Spain.
After the death of Pope Francis in April last year, Lopez had been hailed by some Vatican watchers and “not a few of his fellow cardinals”, according to the influential Catholic website Crux, as “a potential Successor of Peter”.
The National Catholic Review said his “personal biography of bridge-building cultures and continents” could make him “a compelling contender for the church’s top job”.
But he pulled out of the conclave to replace Francis last year just four days before the voting, saying he had “absolutely no ambition” to be pope, and “if I am elected, I will flee to Sicily.”
The cardinal’s deputy, Vicar General Marc Helfer, told our correspondent that the Church’s internal bodies should be allowed to conduct their investigation before Lopez’s shock statement on Tuesday.
“We do not know whether (the reported acts) really amount to sexual assault,” he said.
“We are not covering up for anyone,” he insisted.
However, he questioned “the relevance” of maintaining Lopez “in his office” in an October document, which was sent to Papal Nuncio Alfred Xuereb last month with a complaint from another alleged victim who said the cardinal sexually assaulted her several times, the woman told our correspondent.
The Catholic Church has been dogged by child abuse by paedophile priests for decades, with Pope Francis — who vowed to tackle the “culture of abuse” — criticised for not doing enough to stop cover-ups.
Marie Collins, an Irish victim he appointed to the Vatican commission to tackle the problem, resigned after three years in 2017, claiming senior clerics were still putting “other concerns” before the safety of children and vulnerable adults.
