Francis removes U.S. cardinal in ‘credible’ sexual abuse case

NEW YORK — The retired Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington, D.C., whose sexual misconduct with adults led to previously undisclosed legal settlements, has been removed from public ministry and faces further punishment over a “credible” allegation that he sexually abused a teenager while a priest in New York more than 40 years ago, the church announced Wednesday.

Pope Francis ordered Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s removal pending further action that could include expulsion from the priesthood after the allegation was found to be “credible and substantiated.”

McCarrick, 87, is one of the highest-ranking U.S. church officials accused in a sexual abuse scandal that has seen thousands of priests implicated.

McCarrick, the Washington archbishop from 2000 to 2006, said he was shocked by the allegation and denied it in a statement distributed through the church.

He said he cooperated in the investigation and accepted the pope’s decision out of obedience to the church.

“While I have absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse, and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people,” McCarrick said.

Separately, the Newark, N.J., archdiocese, where McCarrick was a bishop and archbishop, said it was aware of three decades-old allegations against him involving sexual misconduct with adults — no cases there involving minors — and that two of them resulted in legal settlements.