Vatican report challenges narrative that Francis enabled McCarrick after laying blame on John Paul II

Pope Francis emerged relatively unscathed from the Vatican’s internal investigation into sexual abuse allegations made against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, who for decades was one of the most powerful leaders in the American Catholic Church.

The report, released on Tuesday, laid the bulk of the blame for McCarrick’s rise on Pope John Paul II, who incardinated McCarrick in 2001 despite knowing of allegations made against the then-bishop of Washington, D.C. The report adds that although John Paul II’s successors, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI and Francis, also knew of the allegations, because of the cleric’s “retirement and advanced age,” they chose not to investigate him further.