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Already banned from practicing his ministry after accusations of badual abuse in the United States, the 88-year-old cardinal Theodore McCarrick submitted his resignation, accepted this Saturday by Pope Francis according to a statement from the Holy See.
"The Holy Father received the letter in which Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington (USA) resigned as a member of the College of Cardinals," the statement said.
"Pope Francis accepts this resignation of the College of Cardinals and ordered his suspension from any public ministry, with the obligation to remain in a house, which must still be indicated to him, to lead a life of prayer and repentance until the charges against him are examined in the context of a normal canonical trial ", adds the text.
Retired but still active
The clerical career of Cardinal McCarrick ends so brutal ement. Promoted bishop and archbishop to the archdiocese of New York before leaving for Washington in 2001, he was one of the most prominent American cardinals internationally.
Although officially retired, he continued to travel, including to defend human rights issues. He had been particularly in the forefront of demanding reforms to crack down on pedophile priests in the United States.
In a statement issued June 20, Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York had explained that his diocese had received allegations about alleged abuse of Cardinal McCarrick dating back "almost 45 years."
45-year-old case
Pursuant to the Charter on the Protection of Children, adopted in 2002 by the American bishops after the pedophile scandal Shaken the diocese of Boston, "an independent agency" conducted an investigation, the results of which were forwarded to a commission that found the charges "credible and substantiated," said Cardinal Dolan.
Theodore McCarrick, "while maintaining his innocence, accepts this decision," Cardinal Dolan had also pointed out, pointing out that the Vatican had asked the cardinal suspected of "no longer publicly practicing his ministry."
American Catholic site Crux a man accused the priest of having badually abused him in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, when he was 16 in the early 1970s.
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