McCarrick Report: Details of Abuse Ignored [News Analysis]

By Catholic World News, (Catholic Culture), November 10, 2020

[News Analysis by Phil Lawler]

The Vatican has issued a 450-page report on former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, acknowledging that reports of McCarrick’s sexual misconduct had circulated for years but insisting that Pope Francis was unaware of any serious charges against the influential American prelate until shortly before he was stripped of his ecclesiastical honors.

The Vatican report does, however, cast some doubts on the actions of two previous Pontiffs, saying that Pope John Paul II appointed McCarrick as Archbishop of Washington despite damaging rumors, and Pope Benedict XVI chose not to take formal disciplinary action on more serious reports.

The report also casts blame on American bishops who “provided inaccurate and incomplete information” in answer to Vatican queries about McCarrick’s conduct. Several US bishops knew—and informed the Vatican—that McCarrick had persuaded seminarians to share his bed. But they chose not to see that behavior as a danger sign.  …