HOLY SEE PRESS OFFICE COMMUNIQUÉ ON THE INVESTIGATION OF ARCHBISHOP McCARRICK
- October 6, 2018
Pope Francis, aware of and concerned by the “confusion that the accusations regarding the conduct of Archbishop Theodore Edgar McCarrick are causing in the conscience of the faithful”, requested that a message be communicated disclosing when the Holy See was informed of this matter and the Holy See’s subsequent immediate actions:
- Pope Francis accepted the “resignation of Archbishop McCarrick from the College of Cardinals, prohibiting him by order from exercising public ministry, and obliging him to lead a life of prayer and penance.”
- “Information gathered during the preliminary investigation will be combined with a further thorough study of the entire documentation present in the Archives of the Dicasteries and Offices of the Holy See regarding the former Cardinal McCarrick, in order to ascertain all the relevant facts, to place them in their historical context and to evaluate them objectively.”
- “The Holy See will, in due course, make known the conclusions of the matter regarding Archbishop McCarrick.”
- “From the examination of the facts and of the circumstances, it may emerge that choices were taken that would not be consonant with a contemporary approach to such issues. However, as Pope Francis has said: ‘We will follow the path of truth wherever it may lead’ (Philadelphia, 27 September 2015). Both abuse and its cover-up can no longer be tolerated and a different treatment for Bishops who have committed or covered up abuse, in fact represents a form of clericalism that is no longer acceptable.”
- As previously announced, the Holy Father has scheduled a meeting of the Presidents of the Bishops’ Conferences from around the world for next February.
The Communiqué ends with Pope Francis inviting all of us “to unite forces to fight against the grave scourge of abuse within and beyond the Church, and to prevent such crimes from being committed in the future to the harm of the most innocent and most vulnerable in society.
“The only way that we have to respond to this evil that has darkened so many lives is to experience it as a task regarding all of us as the People of God. This awareness of being part of a people and a shared history will enable us to acknowledge our past sins and mistakes with a penitential openness that can allow us to be renewed from within.” (Letter to the People of God, Pope Francis, 20 August 2018)
Click here to read the October 6 Communiqué.
Click here to read the Letter to the People of God.