Pope Francis knew of cardinal’s abuses, cleric alleges
Archbishop’s bombshell claim cited as part of war attack on the papacy
DUBLIN— On the final day of Pope Francis’ mission to Ireland — as he issued candid apologies for devastating clerical sex abuse scandals — a former top Vatican diplomat alleged in a letter published Sunday that the Pope himself had joined top Vatican officials in covering up the abuses.
Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano called for his resignation.
The letter, a bombshell written by Vigano, the former top Vatican diplomat in the United States and a staunch critic of Francis, seemed timed to do more than simply derail the Pope’s uphill efforts to win back the Irish faithful, who have turned away from the church in large numbers.
Its unsubstantiated allegations and personal attacks amounted to an extraordinary public declaration of war against Francis’ own papacy.
And it comes at perhaps its most vulnerable moment, intended to unseat a pope whose predecessor, Benedict XVI, was the first to resign in nearly 600 years.
Vigano claimed that the Vatican hierarchy was complicit in covering up accusations that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick had sexually abused seminarians and that Francis knew about the abuses by the nowdisgraced American prelate years before they became public.
The 7,000-word attack on Francis’ allies in the Vatican, published early Sunday (Dublin time) by several conservative Catholic outlets antagonistic to Francis, marked a steep escalation in the rivalries within the church.
Factions have battled over the direction the church has gone under Francis.
Conservatives have warned that his pastoral and inclusive approach and emphasis on social issues dilute church doctrine and pose a mortal threat to the future of the faith.
The willingness of the Pope and his allies to reach out to gay Catholics has infuriated conservatives.
The conservatives, like Vigano, blame homosexuals for the sex abuse crisis.
Last month, Francis accepted the resignation of McCarrick, the first such resignation in living memory, after the New York Times and other news outlets published accounts of the alleged abuse.