Disgraced former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has died at 94
CBSN
Theodore McCarrick, a once-powerful Catholic cardinal who was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually molested adults and children, died Friday, according to Archbishop of Washington Robert McElroy. McCarrick was 94.
The McCarrick scandal created a crisis of credibility for the church, primarily because there was evidence Vatican and U.S. church leaders knew he slept with seminarians but turned a blind eye as McCarrick rose to the top of the U.S. church as an adept fundraiser who advised three popes.
The Vatican's report on its investigation put the lion's share of blame on Pope John Paul II, who appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington, D.C., in 2000, despite having commissioned an inquiry that confirmed he slept with seminarians.
