A Vatican report has concluded that two recent popes and Church officials ignored repeated allegations of sexual abuse against former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick, allowing him to rise through the ranks. The 450-page document, released on Tuesday, details how the late Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI failed to act on warnings about the priest, who was later defrocked after being found guilty of abusing a teenage boy.
McCarrick, 90, served as Archbishop of Washington DC from 2001 to 2006 before becoming the first cardinal to resign since 1927 in July 2018. He was expelled from the priesthood last year after a Vatican investigation concluded he had sexually abused a minor in the 1970s. The report notes that Pope John Paul II was told of the allegations but chose to believe American bishops who concealed the information, while Pope Benedict XVI rejected a formal inquiry due to a lack of credible claims of child abuse at the time.
The Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the report was published 'with sorrow for the wounds these events have caused to victims, their families, the Church in the United States and the universal Church.' The investigation, which involved interviews with 90 witnesses, uncovered a culture of cover-ups and complicity that enabled McCarrick's abuse to continue for decades.
Pope Francis, who ordered the report, was largely spared criticism, with the document stressing that he took decisive action once a concrete paedophilia claim emerged. However, critics argue that the failings of previous pontificates highlight a systemic problem within the Church. McCarrick is alleged to have assaulted a teenager in New York in the early 1970s and faces multiple accusations of misconduct at a beach house in New Jersey. Financial settlements were reportedly reached in at least two cases.
The report comes as two Catholic priests face trial in the Vatican for alleged sexual abuse, marking the first time the city state has prosecuted such a case. Pope Francis has called for 'decisive action' against abuse since his election in 2013, but campaigners say more needs to be done to hold bishops accountable for covering up crimes.
