Cardinal Denies Sex Abuse; Plan to Sue Him Told

CHICAGO — Cardinal Joseph Bernardin said Thursday he has not abused anyone and knows nothing of a rumored sexual abuse suit against him.

The 65-year-old leader of the nation’s second-largest Roman Catholic archdiocese issued a brief statement Thursday evening in response to what a spokeswoman said were repeated news media calls during the day checking on a lawsuit to be filed in Cincinnati, where Bernardin was bishop before being assigned to Chicago.

“While I have not seen the suit and I do not know the details of the allegation, there is one thing I do know and I state this categorically: I have never abused anyone in all my life anywhere, anytime, anyplace,” Bernardin said.

Local television new reports in Chicago said a sexual abuse suit would be filed in Cincinnati today by a man who was a teen-age student at a seminary in Cincinnati during the time that Bernardin headed that diocese. It was not clear if Bernardin would be named personally in the suit or in his role as head of the diocese.