Court documents obtained by The Boston Globe shows that McCarrick is charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14.

McCarrick was defrocked in 2018 after a Vatican investigation confirmed he had sexually molested adults as well as children.

McCarrick is the first cardinal in the US to be criminally charged with a sexual crime against a minor, according to Mitchell Garabedian, a well-known lawyer for church sexual abuse victims. Garabedian is representing the man alleging the abuse by McCarrick.

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The report documented the rise of disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who was laicized by Pope Francis in 2019 after he was credibly accused of abusing minors, after rumors had for decades swirled around both the United States and the Vatican about his sexual misconduct with seminarians.

John Paul played a significant role in McCarrick's rise, appointing him Bishop of Metuchen, Archbishop of Newark, and Archbishop of Washington before creating him a cardinal in 2001.

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Viganò achieved this by releasing an 11-page letter accusing Pope Francis of mishandling sexual abuse claims on the final day of his visit to Ireland.

In the letter, Viganò claims Francis was aware of sexual misconduct concerns about former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and did not act on the information.

"It was on the last day of the event and we were actually flying out to Knock, the national Marian Shrine of Ireland, and we became aware of the fact that overnight in the States this news had broken.

"I have to say, personally, I was very saddened. I was saddened that this was overshadowing what was otherwise a really important celebration of family and the importance of families in the new evangelisation of the faith.

"In some ways, I felt our World Meeting of Families had been hijacked in a way by this particular letter."

Martin says he thinks Francis dealt with the matter "very quietly and with great serenity."

"You may remember that it was that morning when he arrived at the shrine in Knock, the first thing he did was he went into the shrine chapel and we had a full five minutes of silence where he was clearly, I imagine, placing this very grave situation at the feet of Our Lady and asking for her intercession and her guidance.

"There was an amazing feeling in Knock, I was there myself, to have tens of thousands of people go silent.

"What was very beautiful about that for me was the fact that the apparition of Our Lady at Knock is quite unique - when she appeared at Knock she said nothing, she was silent before the lamb, before the altar, with the presence of St Joseph and St John.

"I felt Pope Francis was entering into that silent space of contemplation. No doubt within his mind was all of this stuff swirling around about the Viganò letter, but perhaps he was placing it all at the feet of Our Lady, the Queen of Ireland and asking for her protection and her intercession."

Source

• The Tablet
• Crux Now
• Image: Vatican News

A statement Francis has released from the Vatican says he has decided to combine the results of an investigation into McCarrick begun last year with a new, "thorough study" of all the documentation about him contained in the Vatican archives.

The aim is to "ascertain all the relevant facts, to place them in their historical context and to evaluate them objectively."

Although Francis's statement shows the Holy See is conscious "from the examination of the facts and of the circumstances, it may emerge that choices were taken that would not be consonant with a contemporary approach to such issues," he is firm about his next action.

"We will follow the path of truth wherever it may lead," he says.

It is thought some American bishops may have known of some aspects of McCarrick's alleged misconduct since 2005, when two dioceses reached a legal settlement with some of his alleged victims. A further settlement was reached in 2007.

Questions have been raised about whether those bishops acted properly once they knew of allegations against McCarrick. Other questions seek to know if and when other American bishops found out about McCarrick's conduct.

The Vatican statement says "abuse and its cover-up can no longer be tolerated and a different treatment for Bishops who have committed or covered up abuse in fact represents a form of clericalism that is no longer acceptable."

It goes on to say Francis is renewing his "invitation to unite forces to fight against the grave scourge of abuse within and beyond the Church, and to prevent such crimes from being committed in the future to the harm of the most innocent and most vulnerable in society."

Francis has convened a meeting of the Presidents of the Bishops' Conferences from around the world for next February, while the words of his recent Letter to the People of God still resonate:

"The only way that we have to respond to this evil that has darkened so many lives is to experience it as a task regarding all of us as the People of God.

"This awareness of being part of a people and a shared history will enable us to acknowledge our past sins and mistakes with a penitential openness that can allow us to be renewed from within."

Source

• AP News
• Zenit
• Catholic Herald
• National Catholic Register
• Image: America Magazine

Francis says an 11-page document of claims released by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò "speaks for itself".

Asked about the letter from in a press conference aboard the Aug. 26 flight back to Rome after his visit to Ireland, Francis advised journalists to "read the statement attentively and make your own judgment."

"I will not say a single word on this," the pope said of the letter.

"I think this statement speaks for itself, and you have the sufficient journalistic capacity to draw conclusions."

"When some time passes and you have your conclusions, maybe I will speak," said Francis. "But I would like that your professional maturity carries out this task."

Three Popes knew about McCarrick

In the letter Viganò released to the National Catholic Register and LifeSiteNews, he claimed that since 2000, three popes, as well as former and current senior Church officials have been covering-up allegations about former cardinal Theodore McCarrick sexually abusing seminarians.

On Sunday Viganò told The Washington Post he wouldn't comment further, beyond confirming that he was the letter's author.

The accusations in the letter are unsubstantiated, but a number of people are named who are said to have known about the situation.

This is not the first time Viganò has been the immersed in controversy.

Implicated in Vatileaks

Before becoming Ambassador to the United States Viganò, was the Secretary-General of the Vatican City Governatorate.

In 2010 he was implicated in the so-called Vatileaks scandal.

Some of Viganò's letters were leaked. In them, he warned of corruption, abuse of power, a lack of transparency in awarding contracts and opposition to financial reforms.

He was subsequently removed from office and appointed to Washington in 2011.

In February 2012 the current and immediate past presidents of the Governorate of Vatican City State released a statement about the leaked letters.

They said the letters contained assertions based on "erroneous evaluations" or "fears unsupported by proof".

Arranged a controversial meeting in the USA

When the Pope was visiting the United States Viganò arranged a meeting between the pope and a Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis.

She had gained notoriety by turning away gay couples seeking marriage.

Davis' attorney said that she received a phone call from Viganò insisting on a meeting with the pope.

"We were led to believe that the invitation did come directly from Pope Francis," the attorney said at the time.

The Vatican later accused Viganò of keeping the pope in the dark about the surprise encounter.

Cover-ups

According to Crux Now, Viganò was accused of his own mishandling of sex abuse allegations; encouraging Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche to destroy documents relating to the investigation of Archbishop John Nienstedt.

Source

• Crux Now
• National Catholic Register
• Get Religion
• Reuters
• salon.com
• The Washington Post
• National Catholic Reporter
• ncronline.org
• ncronline.org
• Image: LifeSite News

The shock waves this time came from substantiated sex abuse allegations that a well-known cardinal, Theodore McCarrick, a retired archbishop of Washington, had molested boys; he was forced to resign last month from the College of Cardinals.

Then came the grand jury report out of Pennsylvania detailing 70 years of horrific abuse by some 300 priests, too much of it facilitated by bishops.

It has all landed on the desk of the current pope, and the scandals have the potential to undermine the Francis pontificate.

It shouldn't.

Indeed, if Pope Francis lives up to his own words and actions, this could be a chance for him to advance his vision of church reform and turn a long-running crisis into an opportunity for long-term renewal.

This eruption was inevitable

At a historic meeting in Dallas in June 2002, American bishops agreed to a comprehensive set of policies designed to protect children and punish offending priests.

But with other observers, those of us in the media — the people regularly accused of trying to "bring down the church" — shook our heads as the bishops effectively exempted themselves from genuine oversight or discipline for failing in their jobs, the sin that truly scandalized the faithful.

Only Rome could investigate bishops, they said, and only the pope could punish them.

That wasn't likely.

The Vatican under John Paul II was not very keen on the United States hierarchy's new policy against priests, and the pontiff certainly didn't want to throw his own bishops under the bus.

Now the scandal has even some of John Paul's staunchest fans questioning the wisdom of his canonization in 2014, and it bedeviled Pope Benedict up to his stunning 2013 resignation.

A Church living in itself, of itself, for itself

In closed-door meetings on the eve of the conclave that elected him in March 2013, Pope Francis — then Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Buenos Aires — gave a brief, powerful address in which he said the church needed to open up or risk becoming

• "self-referential" and
• "sick" with
• "theological narcissism" that leads to the worst evil,
• "spiritual worldliness" of an institution that is "living in itself, of itself, for itself."

The church, he was saying, had to undergo a moment of kenosis, of self-emptying, like Christ on the cross, surrendering power and prestige and privilege in order to truly become what she is called to be.

As pope, he has saved his harshest rhetoric for his fellow clerics, especially the cardinals and bishops, criticizing them as "careerists" and "airport bishops" who spend more time flying around the world than tending their flock.

"Clericalism is a perversion of the church," Pope Francis told 70,000 young Italian Catholics at a rally this month. "The church without testimony is only smoke."

Pope Francis' vision of the church is clearly more radical than the defensive posture of John Paul or the nostalgic traditionalism of Benedict. But is he willing and able to implement it? Continue reading

• David Gibson (pictured) is the director of the Centre on Religion and Culture at Fordham University.

Until his resignation, McCarrick was one of the US church's most senior prelates.

Pope Francis has accepted his resignation.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, announced that "at the direction of our Holy Father, Pope Francis ... McCarrick [has been instructed] ...to refrain from any public ministry or activity until a definite decision is made."

According to the Holy See Press Office, Francis has directed McCarrick to observe "a life of prayer and penance until the accusations made against him are examined in a regular canonical trial."

He also imposed on McCarrick "the obligation to remain in a house yet to be indicated to him."

A Catholic University canon law expert, Kurt Martens, noted that this is the first time an order of penance and prayer had been issued before a church trial has taken place.

Francis has recently announced his resolve to rid the "culture of cover-up" of similar abuse in the Church's hierarchy.

Although the scandal surrounding McCarrick became headline news in June after an allegation he abused a teenager 47 years ago in the Archdiocese of New York was found credible, McCarrick says he is innocent.

Since then, at least one other person has come forward claiming McCarrick sexually abused him as a child. In addition, several former seminarians say McCarrick would invite groups of them to a beach house and insist individual members of the group share a bed with him.

McCarrick's protestations of innocence contradict apparently confidential settlements made in 2005 and 2007 for two men who claim they were sexually assaulted by him while they were seminarians and young priests.

According to a letter sent last week to priests of the Archdiocese of Washington, Cardinal Donald Wuerl was unaware of the settlements.

"Neither the Archdiocese of Washington nor Cardinal Wuerl knew about these confidential settlements until this most recent credible and substantiated allegation against Cardinal McCarrick was made public," the letter from archdiocesan vicar general Monsignor Charles Antonicelli says.

Source

• Catholic Herald
• Vatican News
• Religion News Service
• Catholic News Agency
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: LA Times

Numerous accusations of sexual abuse of minors and adults have arisen against former Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.

O'Malley acknowledged "a credible and substantiated allegation" involving a minor and McCarrick when the prelate was a priest in the New York diocese.

He also acknowledged the diocese's investigation of a second incident also involving a minor and McCarrick.

"These cases and others require more than apologies," O'Malley says.

"They raise up the fact that when charges are brought regarding a bishop or a cardinal, a major gap still exists in the Church's policies on sexual conduct and sexual abuse."

O'Malley says while the Church in the United States has adopted a zero tolerance policy regarding the sexual abuse of minors by priests, clearer procedures for cases involving bishops are needed.

"Transparent and consistent protocols are needed to provide justice for the victims and to adequately respond to the legitimate indignation of the community.

"The Church needs a strong and comprehensive policy to address bishops' violations of the vows of celibacy in cases of the criminal abuse of minors and in cases involving adults."

O'Malley says he has formed these opinions after working in several dioceses and with the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

"The Church needs to swiftly and decisively take action regarding these matters of critical importance," he says.

"In every instance of claims made by victims of sexual abuse, whether criminal violations or the abuse of power, the primary concern must be for the victim, their family and their loved ones.

"The victims are to be commended for bringing to light their tragic experience and must be treated with respect and dignity."

The accusations "are understandably a source of great disappointment and anger for many," Cardinal O'Malley says.

O'Malley says three actions are now required of the Church. These involve:

• a fair and rapid adjudication of these accusations
• an assessment of the adequacy of the Church's standards and policies at every level, and especially in the case of bishops
• communicating more clearly to the Catholic faithful and to all victims the process for reporting allegations against bishops and cardinals.

"Failure to take these actions will threaten and endanger the already weakened moral authority of the Church and can destroy the trust required for the Church to minister to Catholics and have a meaningful role in the wider civil society," O'Malley says.

"In this moment there is no greater imperative for the Church than to hold itself accountable to address these matters, which I will bring to my upcoming meetings with the Holy See with great urgency and concern."

Source

• The Boston Pilot
• Catholic News Agency
• Image: National Catholic Reporter

A circumstance that various Vatican sources think very probable.

The traffic in child pornography is one of the most abhorrent crimes and many States - including the Vatican City State - have adopted very strict rules to punish it.

Capella did not deny the evidence, he admitted his guilt, and explained that he began to hook up with child pornography dealers on the web because of a "personal crisis" stemming from his transfer to Washington D.C.

Videos and explicit content were found on his smartphone and computer.

Loneliness, frustration at not having felt valued and having found himself alone, without friends...

Obviously the prelate had to have a predisposition for that kind of shocking images, which include children filmed in sexual acts and abuses, because fortunately child pornography is not a widespread landing place for personal crises or excessive loneliness.

Beyond the conclusion of the Vatican judicial affair, and the subsequent canonical trial to be celebrated against the former counselor of the nunciature, there remains the paradox: a prelate who has unleashed his perverse fantasies by compiling web images will have to serve a five-year sentence, while prelates who have effectively abused children and teenage boys ruining their lives, in several cases, do not spend even one single day in a cell.

Recent cases of illustrious founders or very prominent prelates (as the Chilean case teaches) prove it.

It is evident that in the case of Capella, the Vatican authorities wanted to set an exemplary tone, to show that no one will be given any discounts for the turbid phenomenon.

But the paradox remains.

The other striking case was that of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington.

Accused of abusing a teenager about 45 years ago in New York, the prelate - who has been long retired - was suspended from his episcopal duties until his position became clear.

With McCarrick, the cardinals appointed during the long pontificate of John Paul II involved in abuses are now four (in total 231, created during 9 Consistories).

The first was the Archbishop of Vienna Hans Hermann Groer: nominated by surprise as the successor of Cardinal Franz König in 1986, elevated to cardinal in 1988, forced to leave the leadership of the diocese in 1995 following accusations of having abused, many years earlier, a number of underage seminarians.

The second was Cardinal Keith O'Brien, Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh (Scotland), elevated to the red cap in 2003, retired in 2013 at the threshold of 75 years of age without participating in the conclave because he was accused of repeatedly abusing, in the Eighties and Nineties, two seminarians and a priest (of age).

The third is Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, who is defending himself in Australia from the accusation of having abused minors.

And now there is McCarrick.

Without going into details of each individual event - in the case of Pell, for example, certain testimonies leave considerable doubts open - one cannot help but notice the existence of a problem in the process of nomination of bishops. Continue reading

• Andrea Tornielli is a journalist and is the coordinator of their website Vatican Insider
• Image: Communione e Liberazione