Just before midnight on Sunday in Ireland, AP reported that Pope Francis declined to confirm or deny claims by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano that he informed Francis in 2013 about sexual misconduct allegations against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
BREAKING: Pope declines to confirm, deny ex-ambassador's claim that he knew of McCarrick abuse in 2013
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 26, 2018
On Sunday, Vigano, the Vatican’s retired U.S. ambassador, released an 11-page text that accuses Francis of covering up for McCarrick; Francis said the document “speaks for itself,” adding, “I won’t say a word about it.”
Vigano also claims that in 2013, McCarrick was already under sanction from former Pope Benedict, but Francis rehabilitated him.
Vigano’s letter states that the Apostolic Nuncios in the United States, Gabriel Montalvo and Pietro Sambi, informed the Holy See immediately when there were rumors of McCarrick’s “gravely immoral behavior with seminarians and priests. Indeed, according to what Nuncio Pietro Sambi wrote, Father Boniface Ramsey, O.P.’s letter, dated November 22, 2000, was written at the request of the late Nuncio Montalvo.” – READ MORE
[divider][/divider]DUBLIN (AP) — Pope Francis said at the start of a visit to Ireland on Saturday that he shares the outrage of rank-and-file Catholics over the failure of church authorities to punish the “repugnant crimes” of priests who raped and molested children.
Seeking to respond to a global outcry over the abuse scandal, Francis cited measures taken by his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, to respond to the crisis. But Benedict never acknowledged the Vatican’s role in fueling a culture of cover-up, and Francis provided no new details of any measures he would take to sanction bishops who fail to protect their flocks.
“The failure of ecclesial authorities — bishops, religious superiors, priests and others — to adequately address these repugnant crimes has rightly given rise to outrage, and remains a source of pain and shame for the Catholic community. I myself share these sentiments,” the pope said in a speech to government and civil authorities at Dublin Castle.
Adding to his prepared remarks, Francis said he was committed to ridding the church of this “scourge” no matter the moral cost or amount of suffering.
Francis trip has been overshadowed by renewed outrage over the Catholic Church’s systemic failures to protect children following revelations of sexual misconduct and cover-up in the U.S. church hierarchy, a growing crisis in Chile and prosecutions of top clerics in Australia and France. – READ MORE
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