Tensions Between France and the Holy See: The Case of Cardinal Marc Ouellet

A few weeks after France's decision - the only country in the world - to include the right to abortion in the Constitution (which obviously greatly irritated the Vatican and the Church across the border), another episode has further strained relations between France and the Holy See: it concerns the case of Cardinal Marc Ouellet condemned by the civil court of Lorient to pay several hundred thousand euros jointly with a religious order for having defamed and put the French nun Marie Ferreol out on the street overnight. After thirty years of honorable service in the Dominican community, due to her conservative orientation, Sister Marie found herself without resources, completely alone, put in the stocks. She had been judged by a kind of internal church court following a Vatican inspection ordered by the former powerful Canadian Cardinal Ouellet, former prefect of the Dicastery for Religious. The Vatican, with a very harsh statement, replied: 'a possible sentence of the Tribunal of Lorient could raise not only relevant issues concerning immunity, but if it had pronounced on the internal discipline and membership of a religious institute, it could have led to a serious violation of the fundamental rights to religious freedom and freedom of association of Catholic faithful.' Translated, it means that the Pope has stepped in to defend the prerogatives of the cardinal and the Holy See. A sort of Maginot line that French justice would have crossed. It is, in fact, the first time that a cardinal has been called to answer jointly by a civil court for an internal Church decision. Behind this very harsh reaction lies the fear that a dangerous precedent could be created, capable of opening up a chasm for compensation claims related to pedophilia. The Vatican statement added that it learned of the decision of the Lorient court only from the press (the news had been anticipated by La Croix) and that at the moment Ouellet has never received any summons from the Court even though 'he had indeed conducted an apostolic visit to the Institute of the Dominican Sisters of the Holy Spirit (Dominicaines du Saint Esprit), in compliance with a pontifical mandate; at the conclusion of such visit, a series of canonical measures were taken against Mrs. Sabine de la Valette, including her dismissal from the religious Institute. Everything had started when Ouellet, at the time head of the dicastery of bishops, had entrusted two inspector nuns with the task of shedding light on the case of a traditionalist nun who had come into conflict with her monastery. In October 2020, without providing the nun with any explanation, Sister Ferréol was ordered to leave the community. The nun's lawyer, Adeline le Gouvello, said: 'she was not even given the possibility of having a defense, and a lawyer.' The nun found herself without housing, a job, unemployment benefits. Nothing. The damages calculated by the court and imposed on the defendants (and the religious order) would amount to almost 300 thousand euros. The president of the civil court, Armelle Picard, criticized the Vatican for never having had access to the dicastery documents. The Vatican through a lawyer has stated that there is no right to access the reserved files.