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DEDHAM, Mass. (WJZ/AP) — Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the once-powerful American prelate who was expelled from the priesthood for intersexual abuse, pleaded not blameworthy Friday to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old lad during a wedding reception successful Massachusetts astir 50 years ago.
The 91-year-old antheral is the erstwhile Archbishop of Washington D.C.
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McCarrick wore a disguise and entered suburban Boston’s Dedham District Court hunched implicit a walker. “Shame connected you!” a protester shouted.
He did not talk during the hearing, astatine which the tribunal entered a not blameworthy plea connected his behalf, acceptable bail astatine $5,000, and ordered him to enactment distant from the unfortunate and person nary interaction with minors.
McCarrick is the lone U.S. Catholic cardinal, existent oregon former, to ever beryllium criminally charged with kid enactment crimes.
McCarrick’s attorney, Katherine Zimmerl, said afterward that they are “looking guardant to addressing the allegations successful court” and would person nary different contiguous comment.
The adjacent proceeding was acceptable for Oct. 28.
McCarrick, who present lives successful Dittmer, Missouri, faces 3 counts of indecent battle and artillery connected a idiosyncratic implicit 14, according to tribunal documents. He tin inactive look charges successful the lawsuit due to the fact that helium wasn’t a Massachusetts nonmigratory and had near the state, stopping the timepiece connected the statute of limitations.
“Today’s arraignment provides anticipation for galore clergy enactment maltreatment victims and survivors that justness volition prevail, information volition beryllium told and children volition beryllium kept safe,” said Mitchell Garabedian, an lawyer for the unfortunate who has represented dozens of others who allege they were abused by clerics.
“My client, successful coming forward, has shown an tremendous magnitude of courage, and he’s acceptable to spot this proceedings done the end,” helium said.
McCarrick’s autumn began successful 2017 erstwhile a erstwhile altar lad came guardant to study the clergyman had groped him erstwhile helium was a teen successful New York. The adjacent year, the Archdiocese of New York announced that McCarrick had been removed from ministry aft uncovering the allegation to beryllium “credible and substantiated,” and 2 New Jersey dioceses revealed they had settled claims of intersexual misconduct against him successful the past involving adults.
Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick successful 2019 aft a Vatican probe determined helium sexually abused minors, arsenic good arsenic adults.
A two-year interior probe into McCarrick recovered that 3 decades of bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed oregon dismissed reports of intersexual misconduct. Correspondence showed they repeatedly rejected the accusation outright arsenic rumor and excused it arsenic an “imprudence.”
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The investigative findings released past twelvemonth pinned overmuch of the blasted connected Pope John Paul II, who appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington, D.C., contempt having commissioned an enquiry that confirmed McCarrick slept with seminarians.
In the Massachusetts case, authorities began investigating McCarrick aft the accuser’s attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, sent a missive to the territory attorney’s bureau alleging the abuse, according to the tribunal records.
The antheral told authorities during an interrogation successful January that McCarrick was adjacent to his household erstwhile helium was increasing up and that the maltreatment started erstwhile helium was a young boy.
The antheral said that during his brother’s wedding reception astatine Wellesley College successful June 1974 — erstwhile helium was 16 — McCarrick told him that his begetter wanted him to person a speech with McCarrick due to the fact that the lad was “being mischievous astatine location and not attending church.”
The antheral said that the 2 of them went for a locomotion astir field and McCarrick groped him earlier they went backmost to the party. The antheral said McCarrick besides sexually assaulted him successful a “coat country benignant closet” aft they returned to the reception, authorities wrote successful the documents.
The antheral told investigators that earlier leaving the room, McCarrick told him to “say 3 Our Fathers and a Hail Mary oregon it was 1 Our Father and 3 Hail Marys, truthful God tin redeem you of your sins,” according to the report.
He besides described different instances of intersexual maltreatment by McCarrick implicit the years, including erstwhile the antheral was an adult, according to the tribunal records. The Associated Press mostly doesn’t place radical who study intersexual battle unless they hold to beryllium named publicly.
Ordained arsenic a clergyman successful New York City successful 1958, McCarrick ascended the religion ranks contempt seemingly communal cognition successful the U.S. and Vatican enactment that “Uncle Ted,” arsenic helium was known, slept with seminarians.
The lawsuit against McCarrick and different Catholic clerics is particularly earthy successful Boston, wherever the planetary clergyman enactment maltreatment ungraded archetypal was exposed.
Reporting by The Boston Globe’s Spotlight squad helped interruption unfastened the ungraded successful the Archdiocese of Boston successful 2002. The reporting uncovered however dozens of priests successful the archdiocese had molested and raped children for decades portion religion higher-ups covered it up and shuffled abusive priests from parish to parish.
A movie astir the Globe’s reporting, “Spotlight,” won the 2016 Academy Award for champion picture.
McCarrick became 1 of the astir disposable Catholic Church officials successful the U.S. and adjacent served arsenic the spokesperson for chap U.S. bishops erstwhile they enacted a “zero tolerance” argumentation against sexually abusive priests successful 2002.
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Cardinal George Pell was convicted of intersexual maltreatment successful his autochthonal Australia, but his condemnation was yet thrown out. And French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin was convicted but aboriginal acquitted of charges that helium covered up for a notorious pedophile priest.
English (US) ·