VATICAN CITY
La Croix International
August 13, 2019
by Nicolas Senèze
Chapter 1: The man of scandal This book tells how three popes were informed of sexual abuses committed by an American prelate and how this case sparked an attack against Pope Francis
A dazzling rise
Before going any further, we must first look at the face of the man who caused the scandal: Former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. The accusation filed by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is based above all on the fact that the former cardinal would have long benefited from the Vatican’s indulgence – that is far from false – but also that Pope Francis himself would have covered it up, which is much less certain.
Now 88 years old, McCarrick was one of the leading figures of the American Church. The son of a merchant navy captain who died of tuberculosis when he was 3 years old, this New Yorker completed brilliant studies that led him to the prestigious Fordham University in New York City before he entered the seminary.
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