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Vatican denies cover-up of abuse by US ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick
- McCarrick was found guilty by the Vatican in 2018 of the abuse of teenagers in the 1970s as well as years of misconduct
- The Catholic Church has been rocked by a global paedophilia scandal, with victims coming forward Australia, Chile, Germany and the United States
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Agence France-Pressein Vatican City
The Vatican on Tuesday denied a cover-up over a US ex-cardinal accused of sexual abuse, admitting papal mistakes were made but saying Theodore McCarrick’s crimes had for years been nothing but rumours.
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A 450-page report on who knew what – and whether three consecutive popes overlooked McCarrick’s abuse of at least one teenage boy and a number of male seminarians – accused senior US clergy of providing “inaccurate and incomplete information to the Holy See” about his behaviour.
The influential former archbishop of Washington, now 90, was stripped of his cardinal’s title in 2018 and his priest’s status in 2019.
He was found guilty by the Vatican of the abuse of teenagers in the 1970s as well as years of misconduct – such as inviting seminarians to his beach house where he made them share his bed.
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Once a highly influential figure who played a key role in raising funds for the Holy See from wealthy US donors, he became the highest-ranking church figure to be expelled in modern times.
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