US cardinal McCarrick sacked for sexual abuse

This 28 July 2018 CNN TV video from the USA says about itself:

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who led the Archdiocese of Washington, after decades-old allegations of sexual abuse of a teenage altar boy forced the Vatican to remove him from ministry.

Translated from Dutch NOS TV today:

US American cardinal sacked in abuse scandal

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of the discredited American cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The 88-year-old former archbishop of Washington stands accused, among other things, of sexual abuse of a 16-year-old boy in the 1970s.

McCarrick said in a statement that he can not remember anything of that abuse, but the American branch of the church has concluded that the accusation is credible. He is also accused of the abuse of an 11-year-old boy and a few adult men. He did not respond to these allegations.

McCarrick had been inactive since June 20 pending an investigation. On Friday, he sent the pope a letter in which he offered to resign. Francis has accepted that offer. He has instructed McCarrick to withdraw until the trial in a church house and to pay penance through prayers.

‘Prince of the Church’

Cardinals are also called the ‘princes of the church’. They have the highest rank in the Roman Catholic Church after the pope. They advise the pope and have the right to choose a new pope in a conclave.

It is not often that a cardinal is discredited because of an abuse scandal, but a number of cases are known. In 2013, Scottish cardinal O’Brien was accused of sexual abuse. He was fired after a two-year investigation.

Recently, one of the Pope’s confidants, Cardinal George Pell was also discredited. He is being prosecuted in Australia. The exact accusations have not been announced in the run-up to his trial.

Not long afterwards the tenure of the German cardinal Gerhard Müller was not renewed. He was head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith,

the organisation formerly knows as the papal Holy Inquisition

responsible for, among other things, clarifying cases of sexual abuse. He was accused of obstructing the work of the papal commission on abuse.

See also here.

Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano’s testimony on how Popes Francis and the Roman Curia covered up the abuse of ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Archbishop Vigano served as apostolic nuncio to the United States 2011-2016: here.

REPORT: POPE KNEW ABOUT MCCARRICK The Vatican’s retired ambassador to the U.S. accused senior church officials of knowing for many years that Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop of Washington, regularly invited seminarians into his bed. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano also accused Pope Francis of being informed of McCarrick’s penchant for young boys back in 2013. [HuffPost]

Vigano’s letter is certainly a bitter, subjective document that highlights the backbiting and intense factional feuding inside the Catholic Church that reaches to the very top of the hierarchy. Vigano, who served as papal nuncio or Vatican ambassador to the United States from 2011 to 2016, belongs to the so-called conservative wing that has been deeply critical of the “liberal” Pope Francis. He makes no attempt to conceal his homophobia and deep-seated hostility to any attempt to ease the church’s reactionary injunctions against homosexuality. The letter itself was clearly timed to embarrass Pope Francis while he was visiting Ireland and signalled the start of a public campaign to undermine and remove him. It was published simultaneously by Catholic conservative mouthpieces and was immediately followed by supportive statements from fellow conservatives. Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas declared that Vigano’s allegations were credible and instructed that the statement be distributed at all church services and through social media: here.

McCarrick also sacked as priest: here.