Cardinal defrocked over sex crimes
Pope Francis has defrocked former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
The prelate was found guilty of soliciting for sex while hearing Confession and sexual crimes against minors and adults.
McCarrick had served as t he A r c h b i s hop of Washington.
His punishment was announced five days before Francis is to lead an extraordinary gathering of bishops from around the world.
It has been called to help the Catholic Church grapple with the crisis of sex abuse by clergy and systematic cover- ups by the church hierarchy.
The de c a de s - l o n g scandals have shaken the faith of many Catholics and threatened Francis’s papacy.
Defrocking means that McCarrick, 88, who now lives in a friary in Kansas after he lost his title of cardinal last year, will not be allowed to celebrate Mass or other sacraments.
The Vatican said that, on January 11, the Holy See’s doctrinal watchdog office, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, had found McCarrick guilty of “s o l i c i t at i o n in the Sacrament of Confession, and sins against the Sixth Commandment wi th minors and adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power”.
The officials “imposed on him the penalty of dismissal from the clerical state”.
McCarrick appealed against the penalty but this was rejected last week.