NEW YORK
Daily News
February 22, 2019
By Leonard Greene
The shadow of a disgraced U.S. cardinal is looming large over a historic Vatican conference where Catholic church leaders from around the world have gathered to discuss sexual abuse by clergy.
Days after defrocking former cardinal Theodore McCarrick, 88, who served as the archbishop of Washington, D.C. from 2001 to 2006, Pope Francis is presiding over the summit, which is aimed at developing guidelines to prevent sexual abuse by priests.
McCarrick was the highest ranking Catholic figure to be laicized, or dismissed from the clerical state. A canonical investigation found that he was guilty of soliciting sex while hearing confession and sexual crimes against minors and adults.
Two U.S. cardinals said on Friday they hope there will be a new air of accountability in the church.
“The situation of Theodore McCarrick is a very, very sad moment in history. It’s a shameful moment,” Cardinal Blase Cupich, Chicago’s archbishop, told reporters. “And yet, at the same time, it causes each one of us to make sure we live our lives authentically before the people of God that we serve.”
Boston’s archbishop, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, said he hoped the summit would lead to zero tolerance and no cover-ups by clergy.
“I would hope that any bishop who is aware of this kind of misbehavior would certainly make that known to the Holy See, and not feel that they in any way should try to cover up or turn a blind eye to this,” O’Malley said.
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