WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post
July 28, 2018
By Julie Zauzmer and Chico Harlan
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/07/28/cardinal-theodore-mccarrick-facing-sexual-abuse-reports-resigns-from-the-college-of-cardinals/?utm_term=.87d93b9a5ba7
Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington and longtime globe-trotting diplomat of the Catholic Church, resigned his position as a cardinal, the Vatican announced Saturday.
McCarrick, 88, was found by the church in June to be credibly accused of sexually abusing a teenager nearly 50 years ago. Since then, additional reports of sexual abuse and harassment by the cardinal, over a span of decades, have been reported. The victims include one then-minor and three adults, who were young priests or seminarians when McCarrick allegedly abused them.
Pope Francis ordered McCarrick to remain in seclusion, and in prayer, until a church trial considers further sanctions.
McCarrick is the highest ranked U.S. Catholic clergy member to ever be removed from ministry due to sexual abuse allegations, and the first cardinal to fully resign his position since 1927.
Cardinal Keith O’Brien, from Scotland, renounced the rights and privileges of his position after a string of accusations in 2013 about sexual misconduct. But he did not officially depart the College of Cardinals, and Pope Francis only accepted O’Brien’s resignation two years after the allegations came out.
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