MONTREAL, Canada: Cardinal Gerald Lacroix is facing allegations in Canada that he sexually assaulted a female teenager, as part of a class action lawsuit against the archdiocese of Quebec, court documents showed Thursday.

The 66-year-old Lacroix, the archbishop of Quebec since 2011 and a cardinal since 2014, is facing claims of abuse dating back to 1987 and 1988, when the victim was 17, attorney Alain Arsenault, who is handling the suit, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The legal action, an updated filing of a case first brought in 2022, features testimony from 147 people who claim they were sexually assaulted by more than 100 priests in the archdiocese, some of them high-ranking clergy, his law firm said in a statement.

The new filing reflects the addition of 46 victims, and names more than a dozen new suspects.

The archdiocese of Quebec did not immediately respond to AFP requests for comment.

In the original suit, Cardinal Marc Ouellet was accused of sexually abusing a female intern from 2008 to 2010.

Ouellet, who persistently denied what he called "defamatory" allegations, resigned in January 2023 from his position at the Vatican due to his age.

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