The archbishop of Washington on Wednesday, addressing a National Press Club luncheon, said he was “embarrassed” at the charges of sex abuse recently filed against his predecessor and emphasized that the Church’s primary concern in such cases should be caring for victims.

The former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, last week pleaded not guilty in a Massachusetts court to criminal charges of sex assault against a 16-year-old male; the acts allegedly took place in the 1970s while McCarrick was a priest.

McCarrick, a former cardinal who retired as Washington archbishop in 2006, was laicized in 2019 following a Vatican investigation that found him guilty of “sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults” and solicitation in the confessional. 

“I’m embarrassed,” Cardinal Gregory said of his predecessor’s alleged acts. “I’m embarrassed not with the discovery – although that’s certainly a part of my embarrassment. But I’m embarrassed because it’s absolutely…