WASHINGTON (DC)
Washington Post
February 16, 2019
By Elizabeth Bruenig
Theodore McCarrick, a former cardinal and archbishop of Washington, has been laicized by the Vatican, stripping him of all rights and obligations as a member of the clergy. The rare and severe penalty marks the end of the investigation into McCarrick launched by Rome after the Archdiocese of New York found allegations of sexual misconduct against the former cardinal credible last summer. According to a statement issued by the Vatican, McCarrick was found guilty of “solicitation in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment” involving both minors and adults, with “the aggravating factor of the abuse of power.” These findings are based on allegations brought by a reported three accusers in 2018 during a penal process initiated by Rome. Pope Francis has rendered the verdict “definitive.” There will be no appeal.
Rome’s decision on McCarrick marks the first time a U.S. bishop has been laicized due to sexual abuse. While many U.S. priests have been laicized for the same, prelates such as McCarrick have been dismissed from the clerical state for sexual misconduct much more rarely — until now. The Vatican has laicized several recently, including two Chilean bishops, perhaps signaling the seriousness of Pope Francis’s “zero tolerance” campaign against the sexual abuse of minors. But for McCarrick, the penalty represents a dizzying, precipitous fall from grace.
Before news of the allegations against him broke last summer, McCarrick was among the most powerful, well-connected prelates in America. Ordained in 1958, McCarrick was first assigned as a chaplain at the Catholic University of America, where he went on to serve as a dean of students for several years. In 1965, he was made a monsignor by Pope Paul VI and was named president of the Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, a stunning double feat for an up-and-comer in only his mid-30s. McCarrick was called back to his native New York in 1969 by Cardinal Terence Cooke, who made McCarrick assistant secretary for education in the Archdiocese of New York; in 1971, Cooke made him his personal secretary. In 1977, he became an auxiliary bishop of New York; in 1981, the first bishop of Metuchen, N.J.; and in 1986, the archbishop of Newark. In early 2001, McCarrick was installed as archbishop of Washington and shortly thereafter was made a cardinal by Pope John Paul II.
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