Rabat (AFP) – A Catholic cardinal touted as one of the favourites to replace Pope Francis said he was “stepping back” from office Tuesday after an AFP investigation revealed at least five women had accused him of sexual assault.

Spanish-born Cristobal Lopez Romero, 74, the Archbishop of Rabat in Morocco, denies wrongdoing.

One woman who said he molested her made a written complaint about the cardinal in May to the Vatican embassy in Morocco, which AFP has seen.

She accused him of “particularly insistent and prolonged hugs” and “an attempt at physical intimacy that could be likened to an attempt” to kiss her, which she said she “barely managed” to avoid.

A church source in the archdiocese said at least five accounts describing similar incidents have been brought to its attention.

Lopez admitted he had been “accused of inappropriate behaviour towards adult women. This situation has led the Church to open a preliminary investigation,” he added in a written reply to AFP.

“I have committed neither assault nor violence nor sexual harassment,” he insisted.

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