VATICAN CITY–The Vatican admitted Tuesday that late pope John Paul II ignored advice against promoting US clergyman Theodore McCarrick to cardinal given rumors of sexual misconduct against him that were later substantiated. The admission was made in the 450-page findings of a two-year investigation into who knew what about McCarrick’s abuse of at least one teenage boy and a number of male seminarians. ADVERTISEMENTThe latest in a decades-old scandal over abuse that has rocked the Catholic Church worldwide, the report also said John Paul II’s decisions were influenced by “inaccurate and incomplete information” from US bishops. “What makes the document unprecedented is its willingness to confront the mistake that was made by a pope and now saint, John Paul II,” he wrote on The Tablet religious news website. ‘Plausible deniability’Anne Barrett Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, which tracks clerical abuse, hailed the report as “a shift to genuine transparency”.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 10, 2020 20:48 UTC