In addition to raising issues regarding contribution to a legal settlement, the McCarrick Report also noted that the former cardinal maintained "customary gift-giving to Roman Curia and Nunciature officials, a practice that continued through 2017."
The report includes several references to the practice, and footnotes instances of McCarrick regularly offering gifts of money to individual Vatican officials, but does not disclose their names or offices.
The report's executive summary concluded that "the record appears to show that although McCarrick's fundraising skills were weighed heavily, they were not determinative with respect to major decisions made relating to McCarrick, including his appointment to Washington in 2000."
"In addition, the examination did not reveal evidence that McCarrick's customary gift-giving and donations impacted significant decisions made by the Holy See regarding McCarrick during any period," the report found.
Despite this assertion, the report includes various instances in which McCarrick received or disbursed money, sometimes tens of thousands of dollars at a time, despite having no apparent personal income of his own.
Although the Archdiocese of Washington has repeatedly declined to answer questions about McCarrick's use of the Archbishop's Fund, multiple senior sources familiar with archdiocesan records sent to Rome for the report have confirmed to CNA that the records include the names of individuals, including senior Vatican figures, to whom McCarrick made large payments from the fund.
In February 2019, the Archdiocese of Washington told CNA that although the account was held under the umbrella of the archdiocese, the funds were considered to be McCarrick's own to use as he wished. This notwithstanding, in July 2019, a former financial advisor to the archdiocese told CNA that the fund was, for accounting and tax-exemption purposes, archdiocesan money.
McCarrick formally surrendered control of the Archbishop's Fund to his successor, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, in 2018, after allegations of sexual abuse were made public.
The final balance of the fund at the time McCarrick turned over control was, according to the McCarrick Report, approximately $500,000.
The Archdiocese of Washington did not respond Nov. 11 to requests from CNA for comment.
Ed Condon is a canon lawyer and worked as Catholic News Agency's Washington DC editor until December 2020.