Italy, Rome – Rome (Monday, August 27, 2018, Gaudium Press) On August 26, in a memorandum of more than ten pages, written by the former apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, describes facts related to abuses committed during a long period of time by US Archbishop Theodore Edgar McCarrick, who served as Archbishop of Newark and as Archbishop of Washington, DC from 2001 to 2006, year in which Pope Benedict XVI accepted his resignation. Due to serious allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by Archbishop McCarrik, on July 27, Pope Francis received his request of resignation as a member of the College of Cardinals and short time later Pope Francis accepted it.
Photo by Gustavo Kralj
In the memorandum, the former nuncio, Archbishop Viganò, declares, among many other issues, that in a conversation with Pope Francis, which took place on June 23, 2013, he told the Pontiff: “‘Holy Father, I do not know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation for Bishops, there is a dossier this thick about him. He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.’ The Pope made no comment at all on my grave words, and his face showed no expression of surprise.”
In more than ten pages of his memorandum, Archbishop Viganò makes references to several Vatican Secretaries of State and several Cardinals and Bishops, as people who knew about the sexual abuses perpetrated by Archbishop McCarrick.
The Pope comments on the memorandum of Archbishop Viganò
On a return flight from Ireland, where he had attended the World Meeting of Families, a journalist asked the Pope about his views on the ‘Viganò Report’, to which Pope Francis replied: ‘I read the statement this morning, and I tell you sincerely that I must tell you the following to you [journalist] and to all of you who are interested: read the document attentively and make your own judgment. I will not say a word about this. I believe the document speaks for itself, and you have the journalistic capacity to reach conclusions.”
The Pope did not rule out dealing with the content of the document later. (EPC)
