Church spokesman critical of ‘Dirty Dozen’ list of papal candidates

QUEBEC – A Roman Catholic Church spokesman is criticizing a list that calls Canada’s Marc Cardinal Ouellet and 11 other papal candidates the ”Dirty Dozen.”

Jasmin Lemieux-Lefebvre, a church spokesman in Quebec City and a former press attache to Ouellet, says none of the cardinals deserves such negative recognition.

The U.S.-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests put Ouellet on the list because it said he refused to meet with sex-abuse victims. Ouellet recently told the CBC he met with victims during a visit to Ireland.

The ”Dirty Dozen” reference comes from a 1967 film of the same name that features 12 convicts assigned to a raid on a German-filled chateau during the Second World War.

Lemieux-Lefebvre is particularly upset because Ouellet and the 11 other papal candidates are being associated with a crude word that is used in themovie’s translated French title.

He told a news conference in Quebec City today that he has fielded many calls from people who are deeply hurt by the association.