ardinal Theodore McCarrick, former archbishop of Newark, N.J. and
Washington, D.C., resigned Saturday amid scandal tied to decades-old sex
abuse allegations.
Pope Francis accepted McCarrick's resignation Saturday and directed him
to observe "a life of prayer and penance until the accusations made
against him are examined in a regular canonical trial." McCarrick sent
his letter to resign as a member of the College of Cardinals to the Pope
Friday evening.
The scandal stems from allegations of abuse of a teenage alter boy in
the early 1970s, while the former archbishop was a priest of the
Archdiocese of New York.
McCarrick, 88, maintained his innocence while the Archdiocese of New
York, where he was ordained in 1958, informed him several months ago
that they were investigating the abuse allegations.
His resignation comes after an Archdiocesan Review Board, made up of
jurists, law enforcement experts, parents, psychologists, a priest and a
religious sister, according to an Archdiocese of New York statement,
found that the allegations were "credible and substantiated."
The accusation was turned over to New York Law enforcement and then
investigated by an independent forensic agency, the statement said.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin barred McCarrick from
the exercise of any public ministry after the review board's findings,
upon direction of the Pope.
McCarrick is one of the highest-ranking American leaders of the Catholic
church to be removed from ministry due to sex abuse charges.
The pope has also ordered McCarrick to "remain in a house yet to be indicated to him," until the trial.
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