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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