U.S. cardinal resigns amid sexual abuse allegations

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has accepted U.S. prelate Theodore McCarrick’s offer to resign from the College of Cardinals after allegations of sexual abuse, including one involving an 11-year-old boy, and ordered him to conduct a “life of prayer and penance” in a home to be designated by the pontiff until a church trial is held, the Vatican said Saturday.

Francis acted swiftly after receiving McCarrick’s letter of resignation Friday evening, after recent weeks have brought a spate of allegations that the 88-year-old prelate in the course of his distinguished clerical career had sexually abused both boys and adult seminarians. The revelations posed a test of the pontiff ’s recently declared resolve to battle what he called a “culture of cover-up” of similar abuse in the Catholic’s Church’s hierarchy.

McCarrick already had been removed from public ministry since June 20, pending a full investigation into allegations he fondled a teenager more than 40 years ago in New York City. A man, who was 11 at the time of the first alleged instance of abuse, says a sexually abusive relationship continued for two more decades. McCarrick has denied the initial allegation.

The prelate rose steadily up the U.S. church’s ranks, from auxiliary bishop in New York City, to bishop in Metuchen, N.J., to archbishop of Newark, N.J., and then to archbishop of Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital.

While most of the scandals over pedophile clergy have involved rank-and-file priests, some cases involved bishops, and there are a few involving cardinals, including a current case in Australia of one of Pope Francis’ closest advisers, Cardinal George Pell, who now faces a criminal trial in his homeland.

A Catholic University canon law expert, Kurt Martens, noted that this was the first time an order of penance and prayer had been issued before a church trial could take place.

Because he is older than 80, McCarrick was no longer eligible to vote in a conclave to elect a pope. But being a “prince of the church,” as cardinals are sometimes called, is a top honor, and those elevated to the rank are called upon to advise the pope.

Bishops have been implicated in the sexual abuse scandals that have stained the Catholic Church’s reputation worldwide for decades now, but often for their roles in covering up for pedophile priests by shuffling them from parish to parish.

Frances D’Emilio is an Associated Press writer.