The Spanish-born archbishop of Rabat, Morocco, announced that he was “stepping back” from his duties after at least five women accused him of sexual assault.
Cardinal Cristóbal López Romero, S.D.B., said that he has been “accused of inappropriate behavior towards adult women” and that “this situation has led the Church to open a preliminary investigation.”
“I have committed neither assault nor violence nor sexual harassment,” he added.
Father Marc Helt, the diocesan vicar general, told Agence France-Presse that “we do not know whether [the reported acts] really amount to sexual assault.” Archbishop Alfred Xuereb, the apostolic nuncio to Morocco, said that the “presumption of innocence must be preserved” until the “facts are established by the competent authorities.”