Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Nov 10, 2020 / 09:30 am
A leading Catholic scholar has said that former cardinal Theodore McCarrick was able to deceive St. John Paul II to secure his own promotion, despite allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct. The Vatican's report on the career of McCarrick, published Tuesday, identifies accusations against McCarrick which were known at the time he was appointed Archbishop of Washington and named a cardinal.
George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a biographer of St. John Paul II, told CNA that McCarrick was a "pathological personality," and that his ability to lie to, and deceive those around him was a "hallmark" of his career and rise in the Church.
The Vatican's McCarrick Report, more than 400 pages and released Nov. 10, includes details of accusations made against McCarrick over the course of several decades, beginning in the 1980s. The report noted that it was John Paul II, who served as pope from 1978 to 2005, who appointed McCarrick as bishop of Metuchen in 1981 and archbishop of Newark in 1986, based on his "background, skills, and achievements."
The report said it was likely that John Paul II personally decided to appoint McCarrick to Washington, even after allegations against the American archbishop were shared with him in 1999, and after earlier allegations and concerns resulted in McCarrick's disqualification from consideration to lead the archdioceses of Chicago and New York.