[ad_1]
The letter of October 2006 was sent by the then Archbishop, Leonardo Sandri, to the Vatican Secretary of State under Pope Benedict XVI's papacy. It was written to a New York priest who told CNN that the church leaders in Rome had not acted after warning them of McCarrick's alleged misconduct to the seminarians.
"I ask with special reference to the serious affairs involving some of the students of the Immaculate Conception Seminary, that you had the kindness to bring to the attention of the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States in November 2000 the late Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, writing Sandri.
The New York priest, Reverend James Boniface Ramsey, said he wrote to the Vatican in 2000 – when the late John Paul II was leading the church – about McCarrick's alleged misconduct with. Ramsey, who was at the seminary faculty at the time, said he did not have a copy of the previous letter.
"The missing piece"
In a lengthy statement on the allegations against McCarrick, dated August 22, Vigano cited Ramsey's 2000 letter as evidence of a Vatican camouflage.
Ramsey's letter, according to Vigano's statement, referred to a "recurring rumor at the seminary that the archbishop would have shared his bed with the seminarians, inviting five people to spend the weekend with him in his house. beach".
In a brief interview Friday with CNN, Ramsey called Sandri's 2006 letter to acknowledge that the Vatican had received its information on McCarrick years earlier.
"In a way, it was the missing piece," Ramsey said.
The Vatican declined to comment, according to spokesman Greg Burke.
Once a force in American politics
Pope Francis also ordered the suspension of McCarrick from the public prosecutor. He maintains his innocence.
In June, when the pope ordered McCarrick to publicly stop his priestly ministry, the cardinal said he had been informed months earlier that the New York Archdiocese was investigating an allegation of abuse. of a teenager "from fifty years ago". He was ordained in the Archdiocese of New York in 1958.
The New York Archdiocese had stated that it would not disclose any details about the allegation to protect the privacy of the victim. A review panel found the allegations "credible and well founded".
The charge was also passed on to law enforcement in New York, according to the archdiocese.
According to published reports, in the weeks following the publication of the allegations, others have accused McCarrick of sexually assaulting them.
The cardinal said in his June statement that he was "shocked" by the initial allegation.
"Although I do not remember these abuses at all and believe in my innocence, I am sorry for the suffering of the person who brought the charges, as well as for the scandal that these accusations caused to our people".
Among the highest ranked church leaders removed from the ministry
McCarrick was also charged three times with sexual misconduct "several decades ago" when he was bishop in Metuchen and Newark, New Jersey, the current bishops of these cities said in June.
Two of these allegations resulted in settlements, the bishops said.
McCarrick did not comment on these allegations at the time they were made public.
Formerly Cardinal, McCarrick is one of the highest ranking American leaders of the Catholic Church to be removed from office due to allegations of sexual abuse.
McCarrick led the Archdiocese of Washington from 2001 to 2006. He was known as a friendly and effective advocate of the political priorities of the Catholic Church, placing special emphasis on the fate of Christians and others. religious minorities in the Middle East. John Paul II raised him to the cardinal in 2001.
Delia Gallagher, Sheena McKenzie, Daniel Burke and Janet DiGiacomo contributed to this report.
[ad_2]Source link