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Surprised by reactions, cardinal insists apology was an 'act of peace'

Last Updated: Thursday, November 22, 2007 | 4:06 PM ET

CBC News

Cardinal Marc Ouellet said he's a bit stunned by the negative reaction to his public apology for the Catholic Church's past "errors," but he said he stands by his mea culpa, which he called the "first step in a journey."

Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the archbishop of Quebec City, acknowledges that \Cardinal Marc Ouellet, the archbishop of Quebec City, acknowledges that "some people are not satisfied with what I did."
(AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

The archbishop's open letter of apology, published in Quebec francophone newspapers Wednesday, set off a storm of criticism from gay groups to women's organizations, who downplayed the act of contrition.

Even elected politicians reacted politely to the cardinal's words of remorse, with Quebec Finance Minister Monique Jérôme-Forget reminding that sorry doesn't change the past.

Speaking from Rome on Thursday, Ouellet insisted his gesture was made in the hopes of launching a new dialogue with lapsed Quebec Catholics.

"I am aware that some people are not satisfied with what I did, or maybe they criticize what I did," he told CBC News. "But it is a first step in a journey of dialogue in order to understand each other better. "

In his letter, Ouellet seeks forgiveness for the church's darkest deeds committed prior to 1960, including sexual abuse by priests, discrimination against women and homosexuals, and attitudes toward First Nations.

But he didn't name the Duplessis Orphans in the letter, an omission that was nothing else but a snub, according to a spokesman for the group.

The Duplessis Orphans, a group of Quebecers who were systemically abused in Roman Catholic institutions in the 1940s and 1950s, have long sought an apology from the church.

Ouellet said his open letter wasn't the right forum to address their concerns.

"I did not want to include them because I covered a lot of ground, and you saw the reactions," the cardinal said in a French portion of his interview.

"I didn't want to touch that question. I think we have enough material to reflect upon and talk about."

The open letter is an "act of peace," he said. "If we want to reconcile, and go further, we need to remove obstacles, and we need to beg for pardon."

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