McCarrick renounces place in College of Cardinals after revelations of abuse

Retired Washington Archbishop Theodore McCarrick has renounced his position in the College of Cardinals, leaving the global Catholic Church's most symbolic and powerful group in the wake of revelations that he sexually harassed or abused several young men during his meteoric rise to become one of the U.S. church's most senior prelates.

The move, announced in a press release from the U.S. bishops July 28, is without precedence since the founding of the American church with the creation of the diocese of Baltimore in 1789. While several U.S. cardinals have come under scrutiny in recent decades for their handling of abuse cases, none prior had set aside their red cardinalatial robes.

Global precedents are also difficult to find, with the last cardinal to fully renounce his position being French theologian Fr. Louis Billot over a political disagreement with Pope Pius XI in 1927.

"Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington, from the College of Cardinals," said a release from the U.S. bishops.

The release added that Francis has also "imposed on Cardinal McCarrick suspension ad divinis and directs him to observe a life of prayer and penance in seclusion until the completion of the canonical process."

A separate note from the Vatican press office said Francis had received McCarrick's resignation from the cardinalate in the evening of July 27, accepted it, and also "ordered his suspension from the exercise of any public ministry, together with the obligation to remain in a house yet to be indicated to him, for a life of prayer and penance."

McCarrick, aged 88, led the Catholic communities in Metuchen, New Jersey, and Newark, New Jersey, before being appointed as archbishop of Washington by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Beyond his retirement in 2006 he was an influential advisor of popes and presidents, and frequently traveled the world in advance of various humanitarian causes.

But in a series of shocking announcements last month, the archdioceses of New York, Newark, and Washington and the diocese of Metuchen revealed that McCarrick had been ordered by the Vatican to step down from active ministry after allegations of sexual abuse were found "credible and substantiated."

More details about the retired archbishop's abuse of young men over decades emerged in subsequent news reports, which included revelations of sexual misconduct with two seminarians in Metuchen in the 1980s that resulted in financial settlements. A further report disclosed 20 years of abuse of a boy that started when the child was 11 years old.

The surfacing of allegations against McCarrick ignited a firestorm among Catholic commentators and across social media, with some of the U.S. church's usual right-left polarization momentarily disappearing as people expressed disgust that one of the country's most senior prelates had methodically hidden abuse over decades.

Many prominent voices across the political spectrum -- from America to First Things to Catholic World Report -- all asked questions of who among the U.S. bishops knew or suspected of McCarrick's actions.

In its own editorial, NCR called on Pope Francis to consider opening an apostolic visitation, or investigation, of the entire U.S. Catholic Church.