Former Roman Catholic cardinal Theodore McCarrick was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial for the alleged sexual abuse of a teenage boy, leading to the dismissal of charges against him by a Massachusetts judge. The 93-year-old McCarrick, who is the highest-ranked clergyman to be defrocked by the Vatican due to claims of pedophilia, was found to be suffering from acute memory loss and severe cognitive decline.
The ruling came after a psychologist, Dr. Kerry Nelligan, testified in Dedham District Court, stating that McCarrick’s cognitive deficits were not expected to improve. The charges against McCarrick stem from an incident in 1974, where he was accused of groping the genitals of a 16-year-old boy at a wedding. Massachusetts lifted the statute of limitations on sex-abuse cases in 2021, allowing the case to be brought forward. McCarrick is also facing similar charges in Wisconsin for allegedly repeatedly groping another young male victim in the late 1970s, but he has yet to enter a plea in that case.
Once a powerful figure as the Archbishop of Washington, McCarrick was ordered to resign as Cardinal by Pope Francis in 2018 and was laicized in 2019. A Vatican investigation found that McCarrick had molested numerous minors and adults throughout his rise in the Catholic Church. Additionally, a report by the Holy See revealed that Pope John Paul II had promoted McCarrick despite knowing about the allegations against him, and Pope Benedict XVI had ignored warnings.
However, the Vatican’s former ambassador to the US claimed in 2018 that Pope Francis was aware of the allegations and had made McCarrick his “most trusted counselor,” while removing sanctions placed by Pope Benedict XVI on the cardinal. In 2018, the Catholic Church acknowledged reaching settlements with several of McCarrick’s alleged victims during his time as Archbishop of Washington.
While the Massachusetts case has been dismissed, at least four civil lawsuits against McCarrick are still pending. One of these lawsuits accuses McCarrick and three priests of running a pedophile ring from a beach house in New Jersey in the early 1980s, during McCarrick’s time as Bishop of Metuchen.
Anne Barrett Doyle of BishopAccountability.org expressed disappointment in the dismissal of the case, stating that it allowed another predator to evade accountability. She criticized the Catholic Church for its complicity with McCarrick, noting that while the institution may have been spared the embarrassment of a trial, the disgrace of its association with McCarrick remains.
Despite the dismissal, the controversy surrounding McCarrick and the allegations of sexual abuse continue to impact the Catholic Church. The case highlights the need for the Church to address and hold accountable those accused of such crimes to regain trust and rebuild its reputation.
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