The All-Too Fallible
 |
| Pope Francis, St. John Paul II and retired Pope Benedict XVI are pictured in a composite photo. (CNS/Paul Haring/Joe Rimkus Jr.) |
"By virtue of the simple fact that this investigation had to be conducted and this report had to be written, my heart hurts for all who will be shocked, saddened, scandalized and angered by the revelations contained therein."Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Washington
 |
| Then-Msgr. Theodore McCarrick, 1966 photo (CNS) |
"Pope John Paul II became ‘convinced of the truth’ of McCarrick’s denial.""[There was no evidence] that McCarrick’s customary gift-giving and donations impacted significant decisions made by the Holy See regarding McCarrick during any period.""[Three of the bishops] provided inaccurate and incomplete information to the Holy See. Bishop Edward Hughes, who had received several explicit accounts from McCarrick’s adult victims, wrote that 'I have no direct, factual information concerning any moral weakness shown by Archbishop McCarrick, either in the past or in the present.There are only two instances where I have known of any allegations against the Archbishop.' Hughes wrote. 'Both allegations came from priests who were guilty of their own moral lapses'.""[Francis, before 2017, heard] only that there had been allegations and rumors related to immoral conduct with adults and believed that the allegations had been] reviewed and rejected by John Paul II."Vatican report
Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director, abuse-tracking site BishopAccountability.org"[The report is] impressive — the most significant document on the abuse crisis to come from the Church.""[The report’s greatest failure was giving Francis a pass, under the premise that he hadn’t been properly informed or knew only that there had been rumors.]""Plausible deniability must end for popes and bishops.They are responsible for reading the abuse files and for correcting the negligent or complicit acts of their predecessors."
 |
| Pope John Paul II |
Theodore McCarrick amassed powee\r and prestige in the Roman Catholic Church despite credible rumours, including written evidence about sexual misconduct on his part with seminarians, priests and teen boys, according to a recently released Vatican report. The report also reached the determination that Pope John Paul II had knowledge of the allegations surrounding the U.S. cardinal fully two decades before the man was finally defrocked.
Pope Francis authorized an internal investigation which gave life to the report, released two years later. The investigation and the resulting report represent the most comprehensive effort yet to provide transparency relating to major abuse in the Church, providing a play-by-pay of how church leaders simply disregarded clues on McCarrick's sexual misconduct; that "church men" were given credence over their victims, making every effort to ensure that discipline would be modest and private.
Information given to John Paul II of the then-bishop sharing a bed with young seminarians he had authority over was given in 1999, yet he chose to appoint McCarrick archbishop of Washington. Eventually he was named a cardinal. The then-pontiff honoured a letter written by McCarrick to the pope's personal secretary that he had never had sexual relations with anyone. Several U.S. bishops did their part to mislead the Vatican when they claimed that though McCarrick shared a bed with young men no sexual misconduct took place.
 |
| Theodore McCarrick was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2018 |
"This inaccurate information appears likely to have impacted the conclusions of John Paul II's advisers and, consequently, of John Paul II himself", concludes the report. Though ideologically at odds, the pope and the miscreant found common ground as Cold Warriors. "McCarrick successfully deceived the pope", George Weigel, a biographer of John Paul II weighed in.
While in Washington, McCarrick put on dinners for President George W. Bush, he presided over memorial services for Washington's elite, and he became a world-travelling church power broker and diplomat, building a high profile of service to the Church, while simultaneously undermining its very fundamental moral structures of decency, honesty and respect. It helped, considerably, that he became a church fundraiser.
Pope Benedict in his turn, following the death of John Paul II, received ample warning over McCarrick's behaviour, yet Pope Benedict thought not to apply formal penalties, informing McCarrick to maintain a somewhat lower profile. The Holy See did request "spontaneous" withdrawal as archbishop of Washington of McCarrick in 2006, once he reached the retirement age of 75.
Even so, McCarrick carried on his representation of the Church around the world, as a good will ambassador of the Holy See, unwilling as it might have been at this point for him to continue his little charade. It was only in 2018 that they rained on his parade, removing him from public ministry, and defrocking him a year later.
The report sketched a scenario of Pope Francis acting against McCarrick once clear evidence emerged, claiming that before 2017 Pope Francis had heard "only that there had been allegations and rumours related to immoral conduct with adults", leaving him with the impression that the allegations had been "reviewed and rejected by John Paul II".
 |
| Then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington and then-Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl smile during a 2006 news conference after introducing Wuerl as the new head of the Washington Archdiocese. (CNS/Paul Haring) |
Labels: John Paul II, Pope Benedict, Pope Francis, Secrecy, Sexual Misconduct, Theodore McCarrick, Vatican, Vatican Report
posted by Pieface @ Saturday, November 14, 2020
<< Home