Vatican’s report on ex-cardinal McCarrick expected within weeks

KANSAS CITY (MO)
National Catholic Reporter

November 5, 2020

by Joshua J. McElwee

Rome – The Vatican’s report on how disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick was able to rise through the American Catholic hierarchy despite reports of inappropriate relationships with young men is expected to be released within the next weeks, National Catholic Reporter has learned.

The Vatican wants to release the document prior to the annual meeting of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ conference, which is to be held virtually Nov. 16-17, said an informed Vatican source. The person asked not to be named as they did not have authorization to speak on the matter.

Reuters first reported the news earlier in the day Nov. 5.

McCarrick, aged 90, was long one of the most influential prelates in the U.S. Catholic Church. He led the Catholic communities in Metuchen, New Jersey, and Newark, New Jersey, before serving as Archbishop of Washington, D.C., from 2001 to 2006.

But in a series of shocking announcements in June 2018, the archdioceses of New York, Newark, and Washington and the diocese of Metuchen revealed that McCarrick had been ordered by the Vatican to step down from active ministry after an allegation of sexual abuse was found “credible and substantiated.”

Francis confirmed McCarrick’s removal from the priesthood, after a guilty finding by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, in February 2019.

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