The pope accepts the resignation of Archbishop Donald Wuerl in the midst of a crisis related to sexual abuse: NPR

Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington, DC, accused of concealing sexual abuse scandals during his tenure as Bishop of Pittsburgh.

Victims of sexual assault and other people have long been asking Wuerl to resign – and these appeals have gained momentum recently, after a grand jury produced a comprehensive report and shocking describing the crimes of 300 "predatory priests" in Pennsylvania, some of which were under Wuerl's supervision.

Today, Wuerl said that its release would allow the church to "focus on healing and the future." It allows this local church to go forward. ". He added: "Again for all the past errors of judgment, I apologize and ask for forgiveness."

The most serious claims against Wuerl stem from his tenure as bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006; his name has been mentioned many times in the 900-page grand jury report, accusing him of moving abusive priests from one parish to another and not informing other leaders of the church when accused priests were transferred to their territory.

The Vatican announced his resignation with only a short notice in his ballot. The Archdiocese of Washington proclaimed that "his new chapter" had begun on his website, by publishing a letter from Francis in which the pope asked Wuerl to remain as administrator until the setting up of his successor.

In his letter, Francis congratulated Wuerl for having shown "nobility" in the circumstances.

"You have enough elements to" justify "your actions and to distinguish between what it means to conceal crimes or not to solve problems, and to make mistakes," the pope wrote. "However, your nobility has led you not to choose this defense, and I am proud and thank you for that."

Francis said that he had received Wuerl's request to resign on September 21st. This announcement was announced nearly two months after the meeting of the besieged cardinal in Rome with Pope Francis in Rome to discuss his place in the church.

Prior to this meeting, Wuerl had sent a letter to the priests of his archdiocese in which he was informed that he would ask the pope to accept his resignation. It has become clear, he wrote, "that a decision, on my part, is an essential aspect so that this church that we all love can go forward". As was the custom for the 75-year-old bishops, he had resigned officially three years earlier.

In September, revelations from the grand jury report prompted a cleric of St. Matthew's Cathedral-Apostle, headquarters of the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, to send an open letter to Wuerl inviting him to resign .

Deacon James A. Garcia wrote to Wuerl: "The time of cowardice and inaction is over," adding that "no excuse will be enough until the bishops and other accomplice clerics have not resigned. "

This is how Garcia explained why he had asked Wuerl to withdraw, in an interview with Michel Martin of NPR last month:

"As I wrote in my letter to the cardinal, those responsible for the culture of secrecy and corruption within the church that still persist today, especially the men responsible for the church leadership – that is to say bishops – the time has come for them to act with courage and humility.I can not speak of the particular guilt level of Cardinal Wuerl. But I think we are facing a leadership crisis in the church today and for some time now.

"I think we have reached a point where immediate and dramatic action is needed.That's why I chose to implore the cardinal to give up his archbishop position for the good. of the church. "

In one of the most blatant cases cited in the August grand jury report, Wuerl reportedly found Reverend George Zirwas in the ministry, even after the Pittsburgh diocese had received complaints that Zirwas had sexually assaulted several boys. After reviewing confidential records and hearing the testimony of victims, the Pennsylvania grand jury stated that Zirwas was one of many "predatory priests" in the Pittsburgh area who had raped children and taken pornographic pictures of them. their victims.

Zirwas was put on leave in 1995 and then transferred to Cuba, where he was murdered in 2001. Wuerl presided over his funeral, noting that "a priest is a priest." Once ordained, he is a priest forever. .

A spokesman for Wuerl acknowledged that "based on the knowledge and experience of today, this [Zirwas] the case would have been treated differently ".

In several other cases in which priests were accused of sexual abuse, Wuerl sent them for a psychological assessment, but allowed them to remain in the priesthood or approved payments for "subsistence" and medical coverage. The grand jury acknowledged that Wuerl had, on one occasion, asked that an abusive priest be stripped of his status, even after the Vatican had decided otherwise.

In a statement issued in response to the grand jury report, Wuerl stated that, overall, he showed that, as bishop of Pittsburgh, he was acting "diligently, for the sake of the victims and for prevent future acts of violence ".

Pennsylvania's Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, who oversaw the grand jury investigation, vigorously challenged Wuerl's request during an interview with Audie Cornish, of NPR.

"When you read about 200 times that Donald Wuerl was mentioned in the report," you will see that his conduct was absolutely odious, "said Shapiro … … Cardinal Wuerl does not tell the truth bluntly. his statements in response to the grand jury report is directly contradicted by the church's own documents and by the archives of his own secret archives. "

In the days following the publication of the Grand Jury Report, nearly 60,000 people signed a petition demanding that Wuerl resign from his position as Archbishop of Washington. A Catholic publisher "indefinitely" postponed the release of his new book, which bore the somewhat untimely title What do you want to know? The answer of a pastor to the most difficult questions about the Catholic faith. A high school in the Pittsburgh area, named after Wuerl, announced that it would change the name, apparently at the request of Wuerl.

Wuerl was named Archbishop of Washington by Pope Benedict XVI in 2006, replacing Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. He was elevated to the College of Cardinals in 2010. McCarrick resigned in disgrace from the College of Cardinals in July, responding to "credible and well-founded" allegations of sexual mischief and revelations that two dioceses in New Jersey had entered financial regulations. with priests who alleged that McCarrick had sexually assaulted them while they were seminarians.

Wuerl insisted that he was not aware of McCarrick's settlements, but his critics asked if this was credible. Wuerl faced new criticism when he seemed to downplay the importance of the McCarrick scandal.

"I do not think it's a massive crisis," Wuerl told the Catholic Media Foundation of Salt and Light. He then pointed out that he considered McCarrick's situation as "a very serious moment" for the Catholic Church, but that he thought the church could overcome it.

Wuerl was very popular during his 12 years as Archbishop of Washington. Confident of Pope Francis, he was considered one of the most liberal bishops in the United States and a strong advocate of social justice and tolerance.

"I think he's been a very good bishop for the Archdiocese of Washington," said Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, a Catholic school for women, in an interview with the member station of the NPR, WAMU. McGuire nevertheless called for Wuerl's resignation. "It's not because he's particularly guilty," she said. "I think he's done his best to make the right choice, but the leader has to make a detailed statement about how we're going to move on, and that would be a really important statement."

In his high-level posts in Pennsylvania and Washington, Wuerl followed suit by men who resigned under strong criticism. In Washington he succeeded Cardinal McCarrick. And in Pittsburgh, a grand jury said his predecessor, Bishop Anthony Bevilacqua (future Archbishop of Philadelphia), had protected priests who had abused minors.