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Wednesday, November 11, 2020 2:54:13 AM
Deep Dive: The McCarrick Report and the popes it implicates
"Pope Francis failed to act on US abuse claims, says former Vatican envoy"
Gerard O’Connell November 10, 2020
Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, arrive for Pope Benedict XVI's
celebration of a Mass with new cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Nov. 21, 2010.
(CNS photo/Paul Haring)
With links
In a long awaited act of transparency, fulfilling a commitment from Pope Francis, the Vatican has today published a report based on a two-year internal investigation into the career of former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick. The report reveals hitherto top-secret information that explains how and why McCarrick, who abused minors and young adults, rose to become a leading figure in the Catholic Church in the United States.
According to the report’s executive summary, Vatican authorities, the U.S. bishops conference and the apostolic nuncio to the United States had heard scattered allegations about misconduct by McCarrick—some U.S. church leaders even received an anonymous report alleging his abuse of a minor—but discounted them because their sources were considered unreliable. Advised by the nuncio that there was no proof to back up misconduct allegations, John Paul II accepted McCarrick’s complete denial of wrongdoing when making the decision to appoint him as archbishop of Washington.
Pope Francis ordered the internal investigation in October 2018 after the review board of the Archdiocese of New York declared “credible” an allegation against then-Cardinal McCarrick of the sexual abuse of a minor in the early 1970s. Pope Francis authorized the publication of the full report today, despite internal resistance, because, according to a Vatican source, he believes American Catholics, who have been shocked and deeply wounded by this whole affair, have a right to know the unadulterated truth. (Full disclosure: Cardinal McCarrick was a longtime friend of this magazine and delivered the homily at our centennial celebration in 2009.)
Vatican authorities, the U.S. bishops conference and the apostolic nuncio heard scattered allegations about misconduct by McCarrick but discounted them because their sources were considered unreliable.
Tweet this
Vatican authorities, the U.S. bishops conference and the apostolic nuncio heard scattered allegations
about misconduct by McCarrick but discounted them because their sources were considered unreliable.
The 445-page report, available on the Vatican website, is officially called “Report on the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930-2017).” According to the report, Benedict XVI did not impose “sanctions” on former cardinal McCarrick and the accusation against Francis that he weakened or canceled them is not true. It finds that Francis took decisive action once the first credible case of the abuse of a minor by McCarrick arrived on his desk.
[Editor’s note: This article is based on a reading of the executive summary of the report and will be updated as needed when the full text is published.]
It reveals that prior to 2017 the Holy See had not received a specific accusation that McCarrick had sexually harassed or abused a minor. It explains the reasons that led to John Paul II’s decision to appoint McCarrick to Washington in November 2000, after first deciding against it. Those reasons, as explained below, included mistakes, omissions and a reliance on partial and incomplete information from three U.S. bishops as well as the Holy See’s own failure to properly investigate rumors and anonymous letters accusing McCarrick.
A key factor in McCarrick’s ascent was Pope John Paul II’s willingness to give total credence to an extraordinary letter from McCarrick, whom he had known since 1976, that denied all the allegations of sexual abuse against him. The report suggests that the pope could have also been influenced by his experience in Poland, where the communists used all kinds of false accusations to discredit bishops and priests.
The investigation on which the report is based was supervised by the Secretariat of State. Its team examined documentation in the archives of relevant Roman Curia dicasteries and the nunciature in Washington. It also obtained information from the four dioceses where McCarrick was bishop and from Seton Hall University, which had authority over two New Jersey seminaries where now confirmed reports of harassment and abuse surfaced.
Continued - https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/11/10/vatican-report-tracks-mccarricks-rise-despite-allegations-abuse-and-misconduct
See also:
Nothing will change overnight and I blame church "leadership" - I like the petition that's circulating calling on ALL U.S. bishops to resign...
NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER
THEOLOGIANS, LAY LEADERS CALL FOR MASS RESIGNATIONS OF US BISHOPS
'No genuine ... healing and reform can begin' without a demonstration of repentance, statement says
Aug 17, 2018
by Heidi Schlumpf AccountabilityTheology
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=143063667
"Pope Francis failed to act on US abuse claims, says former Vatican envoy"
Gerard O’Connell November 10, 2020
Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, retired archbishop of Washington, arrive for Pope Benedict XVI's
celebration of a Mass with new cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Nov. 21, 2010.
(CNS photo/Paul Haring)
With links
In a long awaited act of transparency, fulfilling a commitment from Pope Francis, the Vatican has today published a report based on a two-year internal investigation into the career of former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick. The report reveals hitherto top-secret information that explains how and why McCarrick, who abused minors and young adults, rose to become a leading figure in the Catholic Church in the United States.
According to the report’s executive summary, Vatican authorities, the U.S. bishops conference and the apostolic nuncio to the United States had heard scattered allegations about misconduct by McCarrick—some U.S. church leaders even received an anonymous report alleging his abuse of a minor—but discounted them because their sources were considered unreliable. Advised by the nuncio that there was no proof to back up misconduct allegations, John Paul II accepted McCarrick’s complete denial of wrongdoing when making the decision to appoint him as archbishop of Washington.
Pope Francis ordered the internal investigation in October 2018 after the review board of the Archdiocese of New York declared “credible” an allegation against then-Cardinal McCarrick of the sexual abuse of a minor in the early 1970s. Pope Francis authorized the publication of the full report today, despite internal resistance, because, according to a Vatican source, he believes American Catholics, who have been shocked and deeply wounded by this whole affair, have a right to know the unadulterated truth. (Full disclosure: Cardinal McCarrick was a longtime friend of this magazine and delivered the homily at our centennial celebration in 2009.)
Vatican authorities, the U.S. bishops conference and the apostolic nuncio heard scattered allegations about misconduct by McCarrick but discounted them because their sources were considered unreliable.
Tweet this
Vatican authorities, the U.S. bishops conference and the apostolic nuncio heard scattered allegations
about misconduct by McCarrick but discounted them because their sources were considered unreliable.
The 445-page report, available on the Vatican website, is officially called “Report on the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930-2017).” According to the report, Benedict XVI did not impose “sanctions” on former cardinal McCarrick and the accusation against Francis that he weakened or canceled them is not true. It finds that Francis took decisive action once the first credible case of the abuse of a minor by McCarrick arrived on his desk.
[Editor’s note: This article is based on a reading of the executive summary of the report and will be updated as needed when the full text is published.]
It reveals that prior to 2017 the Holy See had not received a specific accusation that McCarrick had sexually harassed or abused a minor. It explains the reasons that led to John Paul II’s decision to appoint McCarrick to Washington in November 2000, after first deciding against it. Those reasons, as explained below, included mistakes, omissions and a reliance on partial and incomplete information from three U.S. bishops as well as the Holy See’s own failure to properly investigate rumors and anonymous letters accusing McCarrick.
A key factor in McCarrick’s ascent was Pope John Paul II’s willingness to give total credence to an extraordinary letter from McCarrick, whom he had known since 1976, that denied all the allegations of sexual abuse against him. The report suggests that the pope could have also been influenced by his experience in Poland, where the communists used all kinds of false accusations to discredit bishops and priests.
The investigation on which the report is based was supervised by the Secretariat of State. Its team examined documentation in the archives of relevant Roman Curia dicasteries and the nunciature in Washington. It also obtained information from the four dioceses where McCarrick was bishop and from Seton Hall University, which had authority over two New Jersey seminaries where now confirmed reports of harassment and abuse surfaced.
Continued - https://www.americamagazine.org/faith/2020/11/10/vatican-report-tracks-mccarricks-rise-despite-allegations-abuse-and-misconduct
See also:
Nothing will change overnight and I blame church "leadership" - I like the petition that's circulating calling on ALL U.S. bishops to resign...
NATIONAL CATHOLIC REPORTER
THEOLOGIANS, LAY LEADERS CALL FOR MASS RESIGNATIONS OF US BISHOPS
'No genuine ... healing and reform can begin' without a demonstration of repentance, statement says
Aug 17, 2018
by Heidi Schlumpf AccountabilityTheology
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=143063667
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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