Pope Francis on Wednesday promised to “eradicate” sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church following the release of a report detailing ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s decades of abuse and cover-up.
“I renew my closeness to the victims of every abuse and the commitment of the church to eradicate this evil,” Francis said, referring to the “painful case of former Cardinal McCarrick.”
Francis’ remarks came after a long-awaited report found that McCarrick had evaded three papacies as he built a network of abuse within the Catholic Church in the United States. The report found fault with St. John Paul II for appointing McCarrick as the archbishop of Washington, D.C., and later elevating him to cardinal despite the knowledge of “gossip” and “rumors” that the cleric had engaged in abuse while he was a priest in New York and New Jersey.
Francis and his predecessor, Benedict XVI, emerged relatively unscathed, with the report noting that by the time both became popes, McCarrick’s age and retirement from various offices lessened the urgency of investigating past allegations against him.
Francis at his Wednesday audience praised John Paul for his other achievements, noting that the Polish pope was an exemplar in understanding “personal freedom” and, referencing John Paul’s fight against communism in Poland, reiterated the former pope’s teachings to be “a man of upright conscience, to be responsible, to be a man ‘for others.'”
McCarrick until 2018 was one of the most powerful leaders in the U.S. Catholic Church. After John Paul elevated him to cardinal in 2001, he took the lead on the church’s fight against abortion as well as on the response to the 2002 Boston sexual abuse crisis.
His downfall engulfed the church in a series of allegations, lawsuits, and settlements stemming from decades of sexual abuse that he perpetuated and guarded.
