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VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis has authorized "an in-depth study" of Vatican archives on how a prominent American cardinal has progressed in the ranks of the church, despite accusations that he slept with seminarians and young priests, the Vatican announced on Saturday.
The Vatican said it was aware that such an investigation could produce evidence that "choices have been made that would not be consistent with a contemporary approach to these issues." But he added that Francis "would follow the path of truth, wherever it leads".
The statement did not address specific allegations that Francis himself knew of allegations of sexual misconduct against the current Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in 2013 and rehabilitated him despite any sanctions imposed by Pope Benedict XVI.
Francis said that he would not say a word about these allegations, filed by a Vatican retired ambassador.
READ MORE: "I will not say anything at all": Pope Francis does not say that he was aware of allegations against the former archbishop
Depending on the scope of the investigation, Francis's actions may be inconsistent with what he now considers to be unacceptable behavior.
"Abuse and concealment can no longer be tolerated, and different treatment for bishops who have abused or concealed abuse is in fact a form of clericalism that is no longer acceptable," the statement said.
By 2000, the Vatican knew that the seminarians were complaining that McCarrick had asked them to sleep with him. Reverend Boniface Ramsay, a professor at a New Jersey seminary, wrote a letter to the Vatican in November 2000 expressing the concerns of the seminarians after McCarrick was named archbishop of Washington.
St. John Paul II continued with the appointment and made McCarrick a cardinal the following year. McCarrick resigned as Archbishop of Washington in 2006 after reaching the age of 75 years of retirement.
Francis accepted McCarrick's resignation as a cardinal in July after an investigation by the American church determined that it was credible to pretend to have groped an adolescent altar boy in the 1970s. Since then, another man has said that McCarrick had assaulted him when he was a teenager and that other men had claimed to have been harassed by McCarrick as adult seminarians and young priests.
The scandal created a crisis of confidence in the American hierarchy, because it was apparently secret that McCarrick, now 88, would invite seminarians to his New Jersey beach house and bed.
Faced with a loss of credibility, US bishops announced they wanted a thorough investigation by the Vatican of how McCarrick was able to climb the ladder despite his reprehensible behavior.
The Vatican statement Saturday made it clear that an investigation would take place.
