ROME
Crux
October 4, 2018
By Elise Harris
[Editor’s note: Crux is publishing an occasional series of brief profiles in the ongoing drama surrounding clerical sexual abuse, ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, and accusations of cover-up against various Church officials including Pope Francis.]
As a Synod of Bishops on young people begins this week despite calls for the gathering to be either postponed or overhauled due to recent clerical abuse scandals, several key players in the drama are beginning to come into clearer focus.
One such figure is Argentinian Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who reportedly knew about misconduct allegations against ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick as early as 2000.
Currently prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Oriental Churches, Sandri came in for mention in a letter penned last month by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Vatican’s former ambassador to the United States, who charged that several Holy See officials, including Pope Francis, knew about McCarrick’s alleged sexual misconduct with seminarians yet did nothing.
McCarrick had been a celebrated figure in American Catholicism, but he was removed from the College of Cardinals in July following accusations that he had abused minors some 40 years ago. As the U.S. bishops prepare to launch investigations in four dioceses where the McCarrick drama is centered, more questions have been raised than answered.
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