Theodore McCarrick, disgraced former cardinal, dies at age 94

Vatican News

Theodore Edgar McCarrick, former Metropolitan Archbishop of Washington, D.C., who was dismissed from the clerical state in 2019 for sexual abuse of adults and minors, has died at the age of 94. The former cardinal departed this life on 3 April 2020 in the U.S. state of Missouri, where he had been living in seclusion since 2020.

McCarrick was a prominent figure in the U.S. Church for many years. Prior to leading the archdiocese of Washington, McCarrick had served as auxiliary bishop of New York, bishop of Metuchen, New Jersey, and archbishop of Newark, New Jersey. In 2018 he was accused of abuse of adults – in particular seminarians – and minors, and was suspended a divinis (a canonical penalty depriving clerics of the right to exercise their ministry). In the same year, the then-cardinal submitted his resignation from the College of Cardinals. Pope Francis obliged the former cardinal to a life of prayer and penance, until the regular canonical process could be completed.

In February 2019, the then-Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith announced that McCarrick had been removed from the clerical state, declaring he had been found guilty of the crime of solicitation in the sacrament of Confession and violations of the Sixth Commandment with minors and adults, with the aggravating circumstance of abuse of power. Pope Francis confirmed the definitive nature of the decision.

In 2020, a Vatican investigation, authorised by the Pope himself and undertaken by the Secretariat of State, resulted in a detailed Report that provided information about McCarrick’s abuses dating back to the 1980s and 1990s. The Report also identified instances of partial and incomplete information that allowed the then-archbishop to assume the leadership of the Archdiocese of Washington.