In a letter (
full text) dated August 22, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, who served as apostolic nuncio in Washington D.C. from 2011 to 2016, has leveled charges against senior clerics and Pope Francis himself in the cover-up of sex abuse charges against Archbishop Theodore McCarrick. (See
prior related posting.) As reported by the
National Catholic Register:
In an extraordinary 11-page written testament, a former apostolic nuncio to the United States has accused several senior prelates of complicity in covering up Archbishop Theodore McCarrick’s allegations of sexual abuse, and has claimed that Pope Francis knew about sanctions imposed on then-Cardinal McCarrick by Pope Benedict XVI but chose to repeal them.
In the letter, Archbishop Vigano concludes:
Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick's abuses and resign along with all of them.
