Ex-Cardinal Deemed Incompetent for Sex Abuse Trial in MA
The Highest-Ranking Catholic Official Accused of Sexual Abuse Deemed Incompetent for Trial
The highest-ranking Catholic official to have been accused of sexual abuse in the United States is not competent to stand trial, a Massachusetts district court judge ruled Aug. 30.
The ruling frees 93-year-old former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick from a criminal trial, at least in Massachusetts.
The case, however, has put a broader spotlight on several issues within the Catholic Church:
- A closure of Catholic schools across the country
- A rise in woke ideology in the church
- A substantial drop in seminarian enrollment
- The Pope’s continued stand against women in the priesthood
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C.J. Doyle, Executive Director of the Catholic Action League of Massachusetts, expressed concern about the future of the church.
“We are definitely seeing its struggle with the long-term impact of sins by some of our leaders,” he said, referring to the former cardinal as a “posturing hypocrite.”
“It is a pity that this fiend will not be brought to the bar of justice, but he awaits, in the not-too-distant future, a higher judgment,” Mr. Doyle said.
The former cardinal has been accused of sexually abusing 14 minors, including one as young as 10 years old, and eight seminarians in four states. Despite allegations dating back to the 1970s, it wasn’t until 2021 that criminal charges were brought against him.
Despite a trail of now-publicized correspondence and documents exchanged between church leaders evidencing the cleric’s alleged abuses, the church was slow to act.
In 2019, Mr. McCarrick became the most senior church official to be laicized, or defrocked, for sex crimes.
In 2020, the Vatican published a 449-page report on the decision entitled “Report on the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick.”
The Holy See is the central government of the Catholic Church.
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