The Pope accepts the resignation of the Cardinal of Washington in the middle of a scandal
The Pope accepts the resignation of the Cardinal of Washington in the middle of a scandal
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Pope Francis accepted the resignation on Friday of Cardinal Washington, Donald Wuerl, after he was involved in two major scandals of sexual abuse and cover-up and lost the support of many in his flock.
But in a letter published by Wuerl's office, Francis asked him to stay temporarily and suggested that Wuerl had become a scapegoat, committing some "errors" in the handling of sexual abuse cases, but without concealing them.
With the resignation, Wuerl becomes the most prominent leader in the scandal that ravages the Catholic Church after his predecessor as Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, was forced to resign as a cardinal over allegations that he sexually abused her. At least two minors and adult seminarians.
A grand jury report issued in August on rampant sexual abuse in six Pennsylvania the dioceses accused Wuerl of helping protect some priests who abused children while he was bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 to 2006. At the same time, Wuerl faced widespread skepticism about his insistence that he knew nothing about the years of alleged sexual behavior wrongful McCarrick.
On Friday, a Vatican statement said that Francis had accepted Wuerl's resignation, but he did not name any replacement; In his letter, the Pope asked him to stay temporarily until a new archbishop was found and hinted that he accepted the resignation reluctantly.
Wuerl, who turns 78 in November, initially minimized the scandal, insisted on his good record, but then concluded that he could no longer lead the archdiocese.
"The Holy Father's decision to provide new leadership to the archdiocese can allow all the faithful, clergy, religious and laity, to focus on healing and the future," Wuerl said in a statement Friday. "Once again, for any mistake of past judgment, I apologize and apologize."
In his letter of acceptance of the resignation, Francis said that he recognized that, by applying for retirement, Wuerl had placed the interests and unity of his flock ahead of his own ambitions.
"You have enough elements to justify your actions and distinguish between what it means to conceal the crimes or not to face the problems and make some mistakes," Francis wrote. "However, your nobility has led you not to choose this form of defense, I am proud of this and thank you."
The praise of Francisco alarmed the defenders of the survivors, who said that it was an evidence of the clerical culture that Francisco himself denounces in which the hierarchy of the church protects his.
Terrence McKiernan, president of the BishopAccountable online abuse database, said he showed that for Francis, "Cardinal Wuerl is more important than the children he endangered. Pope Francisco Invests this emphasis on pampering the hierarchy at the expense of children, the Catholic Church will never emerge from this crisis. "
Wuerl had submitted his resignation to Francis almost three years ago, when he turned 75, the normal retirement age of the bishops. But Francisco maintained it, as the popes tend to do with the healthy bishops who share their pastoral priorities.
But Wuerl made a personal call to Francis last month to accept the resignation, after the consequences of the McCarrick scandal and outrage over the report of the Pennsylvania grand jury that has led to a crisis of trust in the church hierarchy. .
Wuerl was also prominently named in the 11-page denunciation of McCarrick's cover-up that was drafted by the former Vatican ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who accused a long line of ecclesiastics from the United States and the Vatican to turn a blind eye. McCarrick's inclination to sleep with seminarians.
Wuerl has not been charged with any crime, but was named several times in the Pennsylvania report, which details the cases in which he allowed priests accused of misconduct to be reassigned or reincorporated.
In a case cited in the report, Wuerl, acting on the recommendation of a physician, allowed the priest William O'Malley to return to active ministry in 1998 despite allegations of abuse filed against him in the past and his own admission that I was sexually interested in teenagers. Years later, according to the report, six more people claimed to have been sexually assaulted by O'Malley, in some cases after he had been reinstated.
In another case, Wuerl returned a priest to active ministry in 1995 despite receiving multiple complaints that the priest, George Zirwas, had molested children in the late 1980s.
Wuerl apologized for the damage inflicted on the victims, but also defended his efforts to combat the sexual abuse of the clergy.
Its defenders have cited a case that arose in 1988, when a former seminarian of 19 years, Tim Bendig, filed a lawsuit accusing a priest, Anthony Cipolla, of sexually abusing him. Wuerl initially questioned Bendig's account, but then accepted it and moved to expel Cipolla from the priesthood. The supreme tribunal of the Vatican ordered Wuerl to return Cipolla to the priestly ministry, but Wuerl resisted and, after two years of legal proceedings, prevailed to prevent the return of Cipolla.
"No bishop or cardinal in the nation has had a more consistent and courageous record than Donald Wuerl to address priestly sexual abuse," said Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League.
The archdiocese of Wuerl issued a series of similar applauses on Friday, coinciding with the Vatican announcement. They included a letter from the archdiocesan chancellor, Kim Vitti Fiorentino, who lamented that "Wuerl's pioneering leadership in improving, implementing and enforcing historically innovative child protection policies is overshadowed by the flaws of the report (Pennsylvania grand jury) and its interpretation by the media. "
The Reverend Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest who writes for Religion News Service, described Wuerl as an ideological moderate.
"I was totally enthusiastic about John Paul II and then with Pope Benedict, and now he is totally enthusiastic about Pope Francis," Reese said. "There are not many people in the church who are totally enthusiastic about the three."
However, numerous conservative Catholic activists and commentators considered him too tolerant of the LGBT community and too liberal on other issues. They resented their pivotal role a decade ago in resisting the push of some of their fellow bishops to deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support the right to abortion.
The survivor's advocate, David Clohessy of the SNAP group, said Wuerl's resignation "a long time ago" could give comfort to the victims. But he said he would probably do little to deter others in the hierarchy from covering up abusers.
"But if the archaic and friendly laws with predators are reformed and if more prosecutors show true courage, these complicit accomplices could face criminal charges, and that could make a real difference," he said in a statement.
Wuerl was born in Pittsburgh, attended the Catholic University in Washington and received a doctorate in theology from the University of Saint Thomas in Rome. He joined the priesthood in 1966, was ordained bishop by Pope John Paul II in 1986 and served briefly as an auxiliary bishop in Seattle before going to Pittsburgh.
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Crary reported from New York.
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This version corrects the spelling of Bill Donohue.
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