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Sexual abuse allegation - Former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick pleads not guilty

2021-09-03T14:16:45.874Z


Theodore McCarrick is said to have abused a then 16-year-old. The ex-US cardinal had this rejected in court. A Vatican court had already found him guilty of sexual misconduct.


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Theodore McCarrick on his way to court

Photo: Michael Dwyer / AP

Former US Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, accused of sexual abuse of a teenager, has pleaded not guilty.

The former Archbishop of Washington did not speak himself, but instead had a court clerk deliver his answer.

The Dedham District Court set the 91-year-old on bail of $ 5,000 and ordered him to stay away from the alleged victim and not have contact with minors.

McCarrick is the only incumbent or former Catholic cardinal in the United States to be convicted of child sex crimes.

Prosecutors accused him of sexually abusing a teenager at a wedding reception in Massachusetts for almost 50 years.

McCarrick's attorney, Katherine Zimmerl, said after the hearing they were "looking forward to clearing the allegations in court."

She did not want to give any further statement.

Criticism of Pope Francis

Pope Francis had dismissed the retired Archbishop of Washington from the priesthood in 2019.

The now 90-year-old McCarrick was found guilty of sexual misconduct in dealing with minors and adults in an investigation by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith of the Vatican, it said at the time.

In July 2018, the Pope had already accepted McCarrick's resignation from the rank of cardinals.

According to media reports, he had repeatedly denied misconduct.

In the scandal, Francis himself was also criticized.

There were allegations that the pontiff had ignored accusations against McCarrick for too long and even reversed sanctions against him.

Hundreds of Catholic priests are accused of sexually abusing children in the United States.

In the state of Pennsylvania alone, more than 300 priests had molested more than a thousand children over decades, and the number of unreported cases could be much higher.

bbr / AP / Reuters

Source: spiegel

All life articles on 2021-09-03

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