In the US, hundreds of Catholic priests are being charged with sexual abuse of children. In the state of Pennsylvania alone, more than 300 priests had sexually abused more than a thousand children for decades, and the number of unreported cases could be much higher, according to an investigation.
Theodore McCarrick is also heavily accused of abuse. Now Pope Francis has dismissed the emeritus archbishop of Washington from the priesthood. The 88-year-old was found guilty in an investigation into the Vatican's Congregation of Sexual Conduct in dealing with minors and adults, a statement by the Holy See said. To make matters worse, the fact of abuse of power added.
The decision was announced a few days before a peak meeting on abuse in the Vatican. Only a few days ago, Pope Francis had also granted abuse of nuns by clerics.
Francis in the criticism
In McCarrick's case, the Pope had already accepted his resignation in July 2018. This was accused in his homeland to have sexually molested minors and priest candidates. McCarrick also had to give the cardinal title.
In the scandal Francis was also criticized. The conservative Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò accused the pontiff of having long ignored the allegations against McCarrick and even reversed sanctions against him.
The Holy See was reportedly informed by the New York Archbishopric in September 2017 that a man accused McCarrick of abusing him in the 1970s.