An archbishop of Newark groomed a 5-year-old girl by delivering food to her struggling family and regularly babysitting her, then sexually abusing her on multiple occasions in the 1970s, a lawsuit alleges.
Analysis: The report on disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick makes it clear: Pope John Paul II decided to appoint the priest as archbishop of Washington despite repeated warnings from high-level advisers.
A number of accusers have come forward in the past two years, and the 90-year-old McCarrick and the various archdioceses where he was stationed are facing lawsuits.
Distinctly Catholic: The McCarrick report is really about the ways the culture of the Catholic hierarchy dealt with the sin and crime of sex abuse, and how that culture changed over four pontificates.
Catholics in the U.S. and beyond hope the Vatican report on former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick will provide answers as to how he ascended church ranks unchecked, while abusing minors and seminarians.
Questions have been raised about how the church should determine whether a lay movement should be reformed or dissolved when there is abuse or corruption.
