Theodore McCarrick, former Cardinal,
accused of sexual abuse, dies at 94
Christopher Lamb and Mitchell McCluskey, CNN
April 4, 2025
Theodore McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Washington who was accused of sexually abusing minors and adults, has died, according to a statement by his successor, Cardinal Robert McElroy.
“Today I learned of the death of Theodore McCarrick, former Archbishop of Washington. At this moment I am especially mindful of those who he harmed during the course of his priestly ministry,” McElroy of Washington said in a statement.
“Through their enduring pain, may we remain steadfast in our prayers for them and for all victims of sexual abuse.”
McCarrick was 94 years old, according to Vatican News.
McCarrick resigned from the College of Cardinals in 2018 and was dismissed from the priesthood by the Vatican in 2019 after he was found guilty by the church of sexually abusing minors.
Prior to the allegations, McCarrick was renowned as a formidable networker, globetrotter, and expert fundraiser and was close to the centers of power in both the Vatican and Washington. But the scandal sparked a crisis for both the US Church and the Vatican given he had risen through the church ranks despite evidence that senior officials knew about allegations of sexual misconduct.
Of course, IMHO, sexual misconduct was literally expected in the second half of the 20th century in the Catholic Church.
His case was one of the most high-profile abuse scandals in the US Catholic church as he was the highest-ranking cleric in the country to face criminal charges for abuse. He was also the first prelate in living memory to lose his cardinal position.
McCarrick would be later criminally charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 – he pleaded not guilty. The filing stated that in one incident, McCarrick assaulted the victim, a teenage boy, at a wedding reception in Massachusetts in 1974. But McCarrick was in 2023 deemed not fit to stand trial due to dementia.
Does his not guilty plea mean he was a liar since he was found guilty? Satan is the father of lies, and IMHO, the father of chronic liars.
In 2018, Pope Francis commissioned an investigation into the McCarrick case after the allegation involving a minor was made and following a dossier from now excommunicated former papal diplomat, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, calling on Francis to resign over the McCarrick case.
See below for more on the heroic Viganò.
The Vatican report – which ran to 449 pages and was the first detailed internal inquiry by the Vatican into a high-profile abuse case where the findings were published – found that the late Pope John Paul II had appointed McCarrick Archbishop of Washington, DC, and a cardinal despite being made aware of the allegations of misconduct with adults.
The report found that by 2000, the Vatican was aware that McCarrick had been accused of sexual misconduct with a priest and was known for sharing his bed with young adult men and trainee priests.
Francis, who subjected himself to questioning by the inquiry, was found not to have been provided with any documentation regarding allegations against McCarrick. The pope removed McCarrick from the College of Cardinals and ordered a church trial when the allegation concerning a minor was made.
McCarrick was ordained a priest in 1958 and was Archbishop of Newark from 1986 to 2000 before being appointed Archbishop of Washington DC. He was made a cardinal in 2001.
The question now lies: What does God do with a homosexual, pederast, liar who presents himself as an exceptional man of God? Did Jesus confront him face to face already, or is that horror saved for a later date? Will He say to McCarrick, "Well done thou good and faithful servant?" Or, will he just pull the trap door in the floor and drop the fiend straight to where he belongs? Or will he possibly even forgive him his sins? Jesus paid the price so He can, but I think it would require a very different McCarrick from the one presented here to qualify for God's Grace.
Dante Alighieri would certainly have a solution to this enigma. Dante placed several Popes in Hell for various reasons. The most notable, perhaps, was Nicholas III. "Pope Nicholas III (Canto 19, Third Bolgia of the Eighth Circle): Punished for simony, he is buried head-down in a hole with flames on his feet. He mistakenly thinks Dante is Pope Boniface VIII, expected to join him soon."
However, Dante never condemned any Popes for moral failures (as in sexual or other appetites over-indulged in). Perhaps that tells us more about Dante than the Popes.
- He was ordained a priest in 1968 and served in the Vatican's diplomatic corps, including as papal nuncio to Nigeria and the United States.
- Viganò has been a vocal critic of Pope Francis, rejecting the Second Vatican Council and accusing him of heresy and covering up sexual abuse allegations.
- The Vatican found him guilty of schism, a canonical crime involving a split from the Church, and excommunicated him in July 2024.
What were Viganò's problems with Vatican II? There were several. Briefly summarized:
Were one of those progressive factions an acceptance of gays in the priesthood?
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