Cardinal is axed in ‘child abuse’ scandal
Pope defrocks 88-yr-old in historic first for Church
POPE Francis has defrocked a top Irish-american cardinal after claims he sexually abused a teenager almost 50 years ago.
Theodore Mccarrick, 88, who was found guilty of the allegations by a Vatican Court in January, is the first cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church to be defrocked for sex abuse.
A statement said he was found guilty of “sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power”.
The former archbishop emeritus of Washington was barred from practising last July, when he also resigned his honorary title of cardinal.
The only previous cardinal resignation came in 1927 when French cardinal Lois Billot stepped-down for political reasons. Mccarrick was known for sex romps with adult seminarians before the shocking abuse claims came out.
It is understood the church in the US received three allegations of Mccarrick’s sexual misconduct with adults years ago, two of which were settled.
The Vatican asked the New York archbishop to investigate the former top cardinal in 2017 after he was accused of sexually abusing a teenager in the 1970s. The massive fall from grace of the former cardinal comes just days before a Vatican conference which will discuss protecting children within the church.
Last year prosecutors in Pennsylvania discovered 300 priests were involved in child sex abuse since the 1940s.
These crimes were covered up by a number of different bishops over the years.
Now prosecutors in half a dozen other US states have announced plans for a similar investigations.
Sex abuse scandals around the world have rocked the church in recent years, with the pontiff promising a “zero tolerance” policy, even if the accused is a high ranking official.
Defrocking is the most severe punishment for a priest within the Church, reducing their status to that of a lay person, and no longer allowing them to lead mass.