[ad_1]
The Plains Cathedral is visible long before Interstate 70 reaches Victoria, with its Romanesque bell towers emerging from the vast skyline of western Kansas.
It is a strange place to set up a sanctuary the size of the Basilica of St. Fidel, but it is a testimony of the Catholic faith of generations of peasants of the Volga-Germany. It is also a strange place to house an ex-cardinal disgraced.
However, the convent near the basilica has an obvious virtue: Theodore McCarrick, 88, is home to the Washington Post.
Who sent this famous Beltway financial agent to St. Fidelis to spend his days in prayer and penance?
"Only the Holy See can make this call," said Rocco Palmo, a Philadelphia-based insider whose "Whispers in the Loggia" blog is a hotspot for Vatican news, gossip and documents.
McCarrick has become the iconic figure at the heart of the latest series of sex scandals of Catholic clergy, in America and around the world.
Here in America, the key will be whether bishops will find ways to hold each other accountable, particularly by discussing more and more of a federal investigation into concealment related to sexual abuse, Palmo said. But when it comes to investigating the McCarrick scandals and finding a way to keep the guards, "anything that does not have permission from Rome is not going to fly."
King began his mediator career in the media, publicly claiming he helped elect Pope Francis. He started in New York and New Jersey. He became a world figure, as well as a cardinal, while he was Archbishop of Washington, D.C.
After decades of rumors, McCarrick was finally charged with abuse after a victim had contacted the independent reconciliation and compensation program of the New York Archdiocese. Since it was a cardinal, the Vatican had to be informed and asked to authorize the investigation.
Eventually, a settlement led to church statements and media reports linking McCarrick to the abuse of a teenager, as well as decades of harassment and abuse towards seminarians. directly under his authority. He was the first American forced to resign from the College of Cardinals in a scandal of sexual abuse.
The media storm intensified at the end of August, when former Vatican ambassador Carlo Maria Vigano released an astonishing testimony accusing Pope Francis of helping to rehabilitate and protect McCarrick after Pope Benedict wanted to dissuade him from the scene. Vigano urged Pope Francis to resign.
On September 28, Vigano issued a second letter in which he asked whether Francis had rejected the appeal of a delegation of American bishops asking for an investigation into the activities of McCarrick supported by the Vatican. Vigano posed a crucial question to Cardinal Marc Armand Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation of Bishops.
"Your Eminence, before leaving for Washington, is you who have spoken to me about Pope Benedict's sanctions on McCarrick," wrote Vigano. "You have at your disposal all the key documents incriminating McCarrick and many members of the Curia for their cover-up. Your Eminence, I exhort you to testify the truth.
The bottom line: The Vatican has ultimate control over these documents because it enjoys sovereign immunity as an independent state. But investigators should have more freedom to probe the Vatican Bank and non-profit church-related organizations, using strict international finance laws, approved under the Obama regime.
Keep an eye on the Philadelphia-based Papal Foundation, which McCarrick helped create during his 30-year career, said Matthew O'Brien. O'Brien, an analyst with a Ph.D. in philosophy, is the author of "The Papal Foundation & Conflict of Conflict of Interest," a recent essay by First Things.
As an ex officio member of the foundation's board of directors, McCarrick voted for crucial grants for the Vatican – even though he knew Rome was investigating allegations of sexual abuse at home. against him.
"McCarrick was really good at fundraising and schmoozant. People really love smells and bells, talk to men with red hats and shake hands with the pope, "O'Brien said.
"Cardinal McCarrick turned the papal foundation into a Vatican version of the Lincoln bedroom at the White House," he added. "He was really the globe-trotting prince of the church and he had access to a lot of money. Nobody knows where this money comes from and no one knows where he went. It's part of this story. "
"Cardinal McCarrick turned the Papal Foundation into a Vatican version of the Lincoln bedroom at the White House." Matthew O'Brien, author of The Papal Foundation & McCarrick's Conflict of Interest
Terry Mattingly is editor-in-chief of GetReligion.org and senior researcher for media and religion at King's College in New York. He lives in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.
