Former US cardinal defrocked; book exposes gay subculture

VATICAN CITY/PARIS: Pope Francis has defrocked a former cardinal in a first for the Catholic church over accusations that Theodore Mccarrick sexually abused a teenager 50 years ago, a Vatican statement said on Saturday.

Mccarrick, 88, who resigned from the Vatican’s College of Cardinals in July, is the first cardinal ever to be defrocked for sex abuse.

The former US cardinal was found guilty in January by a Vatican court for sexually abusing a teenager, a decision confirmed by the pope in February, with no further recourse.

The announcement marks a fall from grace for the influential cardinal. It comes ahead of a Vatican conference from February 21-24 bringing together bishops from around the world to discuss protecting children.

Sex abuse scandals around the globe, most recently in the US, have shaken the church, with Pope Francis promising a policy of “zero tolerance”.

NEW BOOK SHEDS LIGHT ON ‘DOUBLE LIVES’

A gay French writer has lifted the lid on what he calls one of the world’s largest gay communities, the Vatican, estimating that most of its prelates are homosexually inclined. In the book, In the Closet of the Vatican, Frederic Martel exposes what he calls the “double lives” of bishops and cardinals.