ROME (ITALY)
Catholic News Service
May 28, 2019
By Cindy Wooden
Pope Benedict XVI had imposed restrictions on the public ministry of former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick in 2008, but they were not formal sanctions and were not followed strictly, even during the papacy of Pope Benedict himself, McCarrick’s former secretary said.
Msgr. Anthony J. Figueiredo, who was the former cardinal’s secretary for nine months in 1994-1995, but continued to assist him from Rome, released extracts from correspondence May 28, saying he wanted the truth out about what was known about McCarrick, when and by whom.
Besides knowing about the restrictions himself, the monsignor also said he had evidence that recently retired Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington knew about them, as did Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, then-prefect of the Congregation for Bishops, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, then-Vatican secretary of state, and Archbishop Pietro Sambi, who was nuncio to the United States at the time.
Msgr. Figueiredo said he decided to publish online excerpts of correspondence in his possession — available at http://thefigueiredoreport.com/ — after attempting “since September 2018 to share and discuss these with the Holy See and other church leaders.” He did not publish the full texts of any of the correspondence or emails he quoted online.
The monsignor, who in October was suspended from driving in England for 18 months after pleading guilty for drunk driving and hitting a car driven by a pregnant woman, said in his online report that “the hierarchy’s abuse of authority and cover-up, in their various and serious manifestations, have inflicted consequences upon me,” including by “seeking consolation in alcohol.”
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