Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church. The Vicar of Christ, His Nemesis and a Prince’s Scarlet Cardinal Sins

Index

1. Introduction

2. Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church
2.1. What is the Issue?
2.2. What is the Problem?
2.3. What is the Solution?

3. A Pope from the Ends of the Earth with Zero-Tolerance for Sexual Abuse

4. A Renegade Papal Diplomat with a bone to chew

5. A Velvet Prince of the Catholic Church

6. My Initial Shock upon Reading the Report

7. Five Takeaways from the McCarrick Report
7.1. A Broken and Dysfunctional System Designed to Produce Monsters
7.2. An All-Male and Secretly Appointed Hierarchy is no Longer Fit for Purpose
7.3. Clericalism and Patriarchy are Part of the Problem in the Catholic Church
7.4. Pyramidal and Absolute Monarchic Leadership in the Catholic Church
7.5. Vatican Secrecy and Sovereignty Shattered

8. Conclusion

References

About the Author

Endnotes

1. Introduction

This is the kind of analysis designed to bring one opprobrium and even episcopal dressing down that an unhappy former Catholic priest with a bone to chew with the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church is bringing ecclesiastical secrets into the open — a sort airing ecclesiastical dirty laundry in public. Following an earlier exchange with a prince of the Catholic Church responding to my Facebook post on the “Pope Francis supports same-sex unions”¹ brouhaha, a member of the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops, who shall remain unnamed out of respect for his office, chided me as follows, “It’s not my intention to stop you from commenting on a number of issues concerning the Church. However, knowing you as someone who has formed many people in the Church and now teaches in other institutions of higher learning, a bit of restraint may be required of you so as not to distract the differently abled intellectuals who may not be as highly gifted as you are. Just my humble opinion [ Facebook post, 24 October 2020]” (Mukuka 2020: 4). I was not sure how to take the “highly gifted as you are” remark. I took it as a compliment. I am not even sure what the point of “It’s not my intention to stop you” was. It was never in his gift because I would be entitled to tell him to get on his episcopal bike or tell him where to stick his prohibition. And he was my former student to boot. So, first, I want to begin this article with a caveat lector [let the reader beware] and disclaimer. I do not intend to pull any punches and nothing I write here on the Catholic Church is not already in the open, especially with the recent publication of the “Report on the Holy See’s institutional knowledge and decision-making related to former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930 to 2017),” hereafter McCarrick Report, which is available on the Vatican Website.² At 449 pages long in its English version with 1409 footnotes [447 pages in Italian and 1410 footnotes], this is red meat to both liberal and conservative theological carnivores in the Catholic Church. Second, I am acting as no one’s theological megaphone. The opinions are entirely mine. Third, I doff my hat to Papa Francesco for having refused the Carlo Maria Viganò bait when he accused him of harbouring a gay lobby in the Vatican and demanded his proverbial head on a platter when he called for him to resign. With the blessing of the ultra-conservative outlet, LifeSite News, he wrote “In this extremely dramatic moment for the universal Church, he must acknowledge his mistakes and, in keeping with the proclaimed principle of zero-tolerance, Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them.”³ At best, Carlo Maria Viganò was the kettle calling the pot black and at worst, simply duplicitous and wreaking of sour grapes for not getting the hoped for red biretta.

With Seraphic humility, Pope Francis deferred to the Vatican Secretariat of State to carry out a thorough two-year investigation and to author the report, “Published without waiver of privileges or immunities and with a full reservation of intellectual property and other rights.” This article examines a triumvirate of relationships involving Pope Francis, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and now defrocked former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick, relating to sexual abuse in the United States of America. Pope Francis’ zero-tolerance was evident right from the beginning. As Time Magazine reported him saying, “On this issue we must go forward, forward. Zero tolerance,’’ He told reporters as he returned from his trip to the Holy Land. He referred to abuse of children as an “ugly” crime that betrays God.⁴ I will advance the argument of this article as follows: Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, a Pope from the ends of the earth with zero-tolerance for sexual abuse, a renegade papal diplomat with a bone to chew, a velvet prince and Lavender Mafioso of the Catholic Church, my initial shock upon reading the report and five takeaways from the McCarrick Report in that order. I argue that the McCarrick Report is a sign of a dysfunctional system held together by clericalism and patriarchy, secrecy and sovereignty. Sexual abuse in the Catholic Church will not be rooted out unless the two twin villains of clericalism and patriarchy, secrecy and sovereignty are thrown out of the tent. In terms of its hierarchy and how it is appointed, the process needs to reflect the rest of society, comprising male and female, straight and gay, married and celibate, young and old as well as being open, democratic and transparent.

2. Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church

I am approaching the issue of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church as a human scourge as well as the product of a dysfunctional system propped by clericalism, patriarchy, secrecy and sovereignty. The problem is not reserved to the celibate Catholic priesthood. Research has shown that a higher percentage of sexual abuse occurs within families by celibates, non-celibates, heterosexuals and homosexuals, male and female, young and old. Sexual abuse is an equal opportunity employer which is not a respecter of persons. In the Catholic Church, it is largely a phenomenon of the Western Catholic Church held together by clericalism and patriarchy, secrecy and sovereignty as I have noted. In the African Catholic Church, our problem is sexual abuse of women, nuns and minors, usually teenage girls and on a smaller scale of homosexual sexual abuse of those in formation, especially in missionary-led institutions, with money covering a multitude of sins. In African society two forms of child abuse which includes sex are child marriages, child sex trafficking and neglect of children of ordained celibate priests, professed brothers and even bishops and archbishops.

2.1. What is the Issue?

In all this, the real scourge of sexual abuse is the vulnerability of children and abuse of power and trust. This was the tipping point for Pope Francis in the McCarrick case. As the Child Rights International Network [CRIN] points out, “Children have long suffered systemic sexual abuse within religious institutions all over the world — a centuries-old problem shrouded in secrecy, cover-ups, and a lack of accountability. The Catholic Church is one such institution which, in 2014, came under international scrutiny. The Holy See, the sovereign State headed by the Pope, who in turn heads the Roman Catholic Church, had its children’s rights record reviewed by the United Nations for the first time in almost 20 years. The State was questioned primarily on the global scale of sexual abuse against children within the Church by its own clergy, the cover-ups that took place from the highest levels of authority, the denial of justice and compensation for victims, and the systemic failure to effectively protect children.”⁵

In 2003, Bishop Accountability was set up. Among its objectives were: to document survivors’ testimonies, provide links to networks supporting survivors, to track abusers on sexual offenders’ registers, to document cover-ups etc.⁶

Regarding sexual abuse and the way that the Church has handled it in the past, the McCarrick Report is a first. As John Allen tells us, “for the most part, the report is searingly honest and comes off as a genuine attempt to get at the truth. It contains a level of detail never before seen. We’re given the strictly confidential advice the most senior prelates in the Church gave when deciding to promote McCarrick, we’re given the gut-wrenching details of victim testimony, and we’re given first-hand recollections by top Vatican officials of the decision-making process. Such disclosure, on this scale, is absolutely new. The present power structure in the Vatican deserves credit not only for allowing this to happen, but for taking the heat as time wore on and impatience grew. We’ve been wondering for two years why it was taking so long, but seeing how thorough and painstakingly detailed the report is, that question no longer seems quite so pressing.”⁷ To vary a metaphor used in the conclusion of this article, now that the toothpaste is out of the tube, there is no putting it back in again.

2.2. What is the Problem?

The Association of Rape Crisis Centres in Israel (ARCCI), founded in 1990, describes sexual abuse as “an act of violence which the attacker uses against someone they perceive as weaker than them. It does not come from an uncontrollable sex drive, but is a crime committed deliberately with the goal of controlling and humiliating the victim.”⁸ Sexual abuse is a symptom of an illness such as alcoholism. This does not mean, it is uncontrollable. People who abuse in clerical collar would have abused without the benefit of the Roman collar. Celibacy did not lead them to abuse. It facilitated and nurtured their illness as will become clear in the case of Theodore McCarrick. In fact, what exacerbated their illness is a clerical and patriarchal culture of which the Catholic Church is the quintessential exemplar bar none. In the case of the Vatican, this was exacerbated by secrecy and sovereignty, thanks to the 1929 Lateran Treaty. Child sexual abuse [CSA], also called child molestation, is a form of abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation and self-satisfaction. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child, whether by asking or pressuring, or by other means, indecent exposure of the genitals, female nipples, etc., sexting, child grooming, and child sexual exploitation, including using a child to produce child pornography.

Child sexual abuse can occur in a variety of settings: home, school, Church, episcopal palace or workplace (in the case of child labour). In Africa, child marriage is one of the main forms of child sexual abuse. UNICEF has stated that child marriage “represents perhaps the most prevalent form of sexual abuse and exploitation of girls.”⁹ The effects of child sexual abuse include physical injury, depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, complex post-traumatic stress disorder, propensity to further victimisation in adulthood, among other problems. Sexual abuse by a family member in the form of incest can result in more serious and long-term psychological trauma, especially in the case of parental incest. This is a vicious circle. People who are abused in childhood often end up abusers as adults. In a 1989 New York Times report, Daniel Goleman concluded that “Studies also now indicate that about one-third of people who are abused in childhood will become abusers themselves. This is a lower percentage than many experts had expected, but obviously poses a major social challenge. The research also confirms that abuse in childhood increases the likelihood in adulthood of problems ranging from depression and alcoholism to sexual maladjustment and multiple personality.”¹⁰

A 2009 study of the global prevalence of child sexual abuse put it at 19.7% for females and 7.9% for males (Pereda et al 2009: 328–338). I take this to mean those who suffer. Most sexual abuse offenders were acquainted with their victims; approximately 30% were relatives of the child, most often brothers, fathers, uncles, or cousins. Theodore McCarrick referred to them as “nephews and nieces.” Around 60% were other acquaintances, such as friends of the family, babysitters, or neighbours. Strangers were offenders in approximately 10% of child sexual abuse cases. Most child sexual abuse was committed by men. Studies on female child molesters show that women commit 14% to 40% of offenses reported against boys and 6% of offenses reported against girls.¹¹ According to the Jesuit priest, James Martin, an advocate for gay rights in the Catholic Church, “Around the same time as the National Review Board released their findings, the John Jay College of Criminal Justice concluded a nationwide study, reporting that around four percent of American priests between 1950 and 2002 had been accused of abuse.”¹²

2.3. What is the Solution?

I am jumping the gun here but in the Catholic Church, three solutions may help to address sexual abuse of children: complete transparency, not post factum but when the delict is committed, jettisoning clericalism and patriarchy, better accompaniment and discernment for vocations to the priesthood and religious life and better vetting and open election of bishops by their constituents with a limited term or terms or a much lower age of retirement than the current geriatric 75. As CRIN pointed out, “To begin improving its appalling children’s rights record, the UN recommended that the Holy See reform the Church’s internal procedures, namely in the areas of child protection and abuse prevention, transparency and reporting, and accountability. But obscure and rigid internal structures and a chronic lack of political will continue to delay any progress. These factors inevitably pave the way for some of the worst crimes against children to continue and for survivors to be denied justice.”¹³

3. A Pope from the Ends of the Earth with Zero-Tolerance for Sexual Abuse

On a drizzly 13 March 2013 Rome evening, a hitherto little-known Argentinian Cardinal of Italian origin, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, introduced himself to the city and to the world — Urbi et Orbi — “Brothers and sisters, good evening! You all know that the duty of the Conclave was to give Rome a bishop. It seems that my brother cardinals have gone almost to the ends of the earth to get him [ Fratelli e sorelle, buonasera ! Voi sapete che il dovere del Conclave era di dare un vescovo a Roma. Sembra che i miei fratelli cardinali siano andati a prenderlo quasi alla fine del mondo ].¹⁴ Already the name Papa Francesco was gaining currency. On that evening, he thanked his audience and asked them to pray for his predecessor, Benedict XVI. He led the audience in saying the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. The tone was pastoral and compassionate, like a new parish priest assuring his new parishioners that we were going to get along famously. “And now, let’s begin this journey: bishop and people. This journey of the Church of Rome, which presides in charity over the other Churches. A journey of fraternity, love and trust between us. Pray for us: one for the other. Let’s pray for all the world, so that it may be a grand fraternity. I hope that this journey of the Church, which we begin today and in which my Cardinal Vicar present here will help me that it may be fruitful for the evangelisation of this beautiful city” [ E adesso, incominciamo questo cammino: Vescovo e popolo. Questo cammino della Chiesa di Roma, che è quella che presiede nella carità tutte le Chiese. Un cammino di fratellanza, di amore, di fiducia tra noi. Preghiamo sempre per noi: l’uno per l’altro. Preghiamo per tutto il mondo, perché ci sia una grande fratellanza. Vi auguro che questo cammino di Chiesa, che oggi incominciamo e nel quale mi aiuterà il mio Cardinale Vicario, qui presente, sia fruttuoso per l’evangelizzazione di questa città tanto bella !]¹⁵

From what we can tell from his immediate pronouncements and appointments, there were at least three items in his in-tray: sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, especially sexual abuse of minors, financial mismanagement or financial reform and homosexuality in the Church. We focus here on the first item. In December 2013, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, the Archbishop of Boston, announced that Pope Francis was setting up a panel of experts to provide codes of conduct for clergymen, guidelines for Church officials and better checks for would-be priests on the issue of sexual abuse. “Up until now there has been so much focus on the judicial parts of this but the pastoral part is very, very important. The Holy Father is concerned about that,” he said. “We feel that having the advantage of a commission of experts who will be able to study these issues and bring concrete recommendations for the Holy Father and the Holy See will be very important.”¹⁶ That was then. 7 years later, Pope Francis is still intent on applying zero-tolerance to sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. On 11 November 2020, Nicole Winfield reported that “Pope Francis pledged Wednesday to rid the Catholic Church of sexual abuse and offered prayers to victims of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a day after the Vatican released a detailed report into the decades long Church cover-up of his sexual misconduct.”¹⁷ Nicole Winfield let us into one of the shocks of the recent report, “The Vatican report blamed a host of bishops, cardinals and Popes for downplaying and dismissing mountains of evidence of McCarrick’s misconduct starting in the 1990s — but largely spared Francis. Instead, it laid the lion’s share of the blame on St. John Paul II, a former Pope, for having appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington in 2000, and making him a cardinal, despite having commissioned an inquiry that found he had slept with seminarians.”¹⁸

But as the McCarrick Report notes, “On 6 October 2018, the Holy Father ordered a thorough study of the documentation present in the Archives of the Dicasteries and Offices of the Holy See regarding McCarrick, in order to ascertain all the relevant facts, to place them in their historical context and to evaluate them objectively” (McCarrick Report 2020: 1). The report has been in the making for the last 2 years. Sceptics are unlikely to be convinced by the Secretariat of State’s disclaimer that “the examination did not reveal evidence that McCarrick’s customary gift-giving and donations impacted significant decisions made by the Holy See regarding McCarrick during any period” (McCarrick Report 2020: 4). Money is a universal language and Theodore McCarrick, or as he liked to be referred to by his “nephews and nieces,” Uncle Ted, appears to have used it cunningly.

By the time of his election, Pope Francis already knew of Theodore McCarrick. In fact, while Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he met him on 17 December 2004, on his birthday. Once Pope Francis got to hear of sexual abuse allegations against Theodore McCarrick, especially relating to minors, he was quick to move in with a zero-tolerance sledge hammer. “In June 2017, the Archdiocese of New York learned of the first known allegation of sexual abuse by McCarrick of a victim under 18 years of age, which occurred in the early 1970s. Shortly after the accusation was deemed credible, Pope Francis requested McCarrick’s resignation from the College of Cardinals. Following an administrative penal process by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, McCarrick was found culpable of acts in contravention of the Sixth Commandment of the Decalogue involving both minors and adults, and on that basis was dismissed from the clerical state” (McCarrick Report 2020: 14). That, as I have noted, was Pope Francis’ tipping point. It mattered little that Theodore McCarrick was an octogenarian. He never worried about the age of his victims, why should the Church worry about his? Not surprisingly, the whereabouts of the disgraced former high-flying prince of the Catholic Church are unknown. According to the National Catholic Reporter, his last known residence was “St. Fidelis Friary, run by the Capuchin Franciscan order in Victoria, Kansas, in the Diocese of Salina in the north-western part of the state.”¹⁹

4. A Renegade Papal Diplomat with a bone to chew

Apart from Theodore McCarrick, the other bête noire of the report into the sexual misdemeanours of the former Cardinal of Washington is the former Vatican ambassador to the USA, Carlo Maria Viganò. Born in northern Italy with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was ordained a priest in 1968. Five years later, he entered the Vatican’s diplomatic corps, where he held positions at embassies in Great Britain and Iraq. He worked more than a decade (1978‒1989) in the Vatican Secretariat of State before spending the next three years as the Vatican’s permanent observer mission at the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg, France. He was made an archbishop in 1992 by Pope John Paul II, who appointed him Apostolic Nuncio to Nigeria. For much of his early years in Rome, he kept a low profile, working mostly behind the scenes, dotting all the I’s and crossing all the T’s necessary for rising on the ladder of a career diplomatic.

That low profile extended into his appointment in 2009 to a high-ranking position as secretary-general of the governorate of Vatican City State. There he earned a reputation for his skills as a financial reformer. He also faced internal tensions and criticism for what some viewed as micromanaging. In 2010, anonymous emails circulated among cardinals and Vatican embassies alleging nepotism by Carlo Maria Viganò in the career of his nephew, Msgr. Carlo Maria Polvani, who also worked within the Vatican Secretariat of State. A commentary in the Italian newspaper Il Giornale, also anonymous, suggested he sought control over Vatican security services.

Despite writing to Pope Benedict XVI requesting to keep his Vatican position, Carlo Maria Viganò was appointed on 19 October 2011, as Apostolic Nuncio to the USA, succeeding Archbishop Pietro Sambi, who died earlier that year. The move was seen as a spanner in the works of his hopes of eventually being appointed president of the Vatican City State and with it, elevation to a Cardinal’s office in the model of a latter-day Paul Marcinkus. The rest of Carlo Maria Viganò’s comportment in relation to Pope Francis can be expressed by this sour grapes’ incident even though Francis was nowhere near his appointments to and recall from the USA. Since his return from Washington without any sign or hope for the hoped-for red hat, he has been pouring vitriol on Pope Francis and peddling one conspiracy after another which included blaming Pope Francis for the McCarrick sexual abuse scandal.²⁰ This included accusing Pope Francis of sheltering a gay lobby in the Vatican. Pope Francis refused to take the bait. With the McCarrick Report, Pope Francis can now return the favour. But by no means, is Pope Francis off the hook. Given what he knew or found in his in-tray about Theodore McCarrick, he had no right to trust the judgement of his two immediate predecessors.

On 20 October 2020, Carlo Maria Viganò wrote on Marco Tosatti’s ultra conservative website, Stilum Curiae, “After all, experience teaches us that when Bergoglio says something, he does it with a very precise purpose: to make others interpret his words in the broadest possible sense. The front pages of newspapers all over the world are announcing today: ‘The Pope approves Gay Marriage’ — even if technically this is not what he said. But this was exactly the result that he and the Vatican gay lobby wanted. Then the Vatican Press Office will perhaps say that what Bergoglio said was misunderstood, that this was an old interview, and that the Church reaffirms its condemnation of homosexuality as intrinsically disordered. But the damage has been done, and even any steps backwards from the scandal that has been stirred up will ultimately be a step forward in the direction of mainstream thought and what is politically correct. Let us not forget the nefarious results of his famous utterance in 2013 — ‘Who am I to judge?’ — which earned him a place on the cover of The Advocate along with the title ‘Man of the Year.’”²¹

On 25 August 2018, Carlo Maria Viganò published an 11-page letter accusing Pope Francis and numerous other senior Church leaders of concealing allegations of sexual misconduct against then-cardinal Theodore McCarrick. After the publication of the letter, he continued to issue public statements critical of Pope Francis. With the recent publication of the “Report on the Holy See’s institutional knowledge and decision-making related to former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930 to 2017),” the former Church diplomat may have handed Pope Francis the final nail in Carlo Maria Viganò’s coffin. To his credit, while serving in the Secretariat of State, Carlo Maria Viganò wrote two memoranda, one in 2006 and the other in 2008, raising questions about Theodore McCarrick. The memoranda referenced allegations and rumours about Theodore McCarrick’s misconduct during the 1980s. He noted that the allegations remained unproven, “Si vera et probata sunt exposita” [if what is asserted be true and proven] and that only the Pope could judge a cardinal under canon law. He suggested that a canonical process could be opened to determine the truth and, if warranted, to impose an “exemplary measure” (McCarrick Report 2020: 10). But it seems these concerns, having found their way into Pope Benedict’s in-tray never left the pending tray until now.

[...]

¹ Ryan Thoreson (21 October 2020), “Pope Francis Supports Same-Sex Civil Unions,” Human Rights Watch, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/21/pope-francis-supports-same-sex-civil-unions (Accessed on 17.11.2020)

² Report on the Holy See’s Institutional Knowledge and Decision-Making Related to Former Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick (1930 to 2017), http://www.vatican.va/resources/resources_rapporto-card-mccarrick_20201110_en.pdf (Accessed on 15.11.2020)

³ Carlo Maria Viganò (25 August 2018), “Pope Francis covered up McCarrick abuse, former US nuncio testifies (Official Text),” LifeSite News, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/former-us-nuncio-pope-francis-knew-of-mccarricks-misdeeds-repealed-sanction (Accessed on 17.11.2020)

⁴ Eliana Dockterman (26 May 2014), “Pope Declares ‘Zero Tolerance’ Sex-Abuse Policy,” Time Magazine, https://time.com/116989/pope-zero-tolerance-sex-abuse-policy/ (Accessed on 17.11.2020)

⁵ Child Rights International Network [CRIN] (2020), “Child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church,” https://home.crin.org/issues/sexual-violence/child-sexual-abuse-catholic-church (Accessed on 15.11.2020)

⁶ Bishop Accountability (2020), http://www.bishop-accountability.org/ (Accessed on 22.11.2020)

⁷ John L Allen (12 November 2020), “History-making report sets a precedent the Vatican can’t walk back,” Crux, https://cruxnow.com/news-analysis/2020/11/history-making-report-sets-a-precedent-the-vatican-cant-walk-back/ (Accessed on 18.11.2020)

⁸ Association of Rape Crisis Centres in Israel (ARCCI), (22 November 2020), “What is sexual abuse?” https://www.1202.org.il/en/union/info/what-is-sexual-abuse (22.11.2020)

⁹ UNICEF (2006), “Child Protection Information Sheet: Child Marriage,” https://www.unicef.org/chinese/protection/files/Child_Marriage.pdf (Accessed on 15.11.2020)

¹⁰ Daniel Goleman (24 January 1989), “Sad Legacy of Abuse: The Search for Remedies,” The New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/1989/01/24/science/sad-legacy-of-abuse-the-search-for-remedies.html?auth=login-google1tap&login=google1tap (Accessed on 18.11.2020)

¹¹ Julia Whealin (2009), “Child Sexual Abuse,” National Centre for PTSD, https://web.archive.org/web/20090730101002/http://www.ptsd.va.gov/public/pages/child-sexual-abuse.asp (Accessed on 15.11.2020)

¹² James Martin (15 December 2017), “It’s not about celibacy: Blaming the wrong thing for sexual abuse in the Church,” https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2017/12/15/its-not-about-celibacy-blaming-wrong-thing-sexual-abuse-church (Accessed on 16.11.2020)

¹³ Child Rights International Network [CRIN] (2020), “Child sexual abuse in the Catholic Church,” https://home.crin.org/issues/sexual-violence/child-sexual-abuse-catholic-church (Accessed on 16.11.2020)

¹⁴ Papa Francesco (13 March 2013), “Benedizione Apostolica ‘Urbi et Orbi’ Primo Saluto del Santo Padre Francesco,” http://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/it/speeches/2013/march/documents/papa-francesco_20130313_benedizione-urbi-et-orbi.html (Accessed on 15.11.2020)

¹⁵ Ibid — translation from Italian into English mine.

¹⁶ Sean O’Malley (5 December 2013), “Pope Francis sets up Vatican child sex abuse committee,” BBC News, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-25235724 (Accessed on 15.11.2020)

¹⁷ Nicole Winfield (11 November 2020), “Pope Francis vows to end sexual abuse after McCarrick report,” https://apnews.com/article/sexual-abuse-by-clergy-sexual-abuse-pope-francis-prayer-17191e15292dff26fae1fe01739d92d1 (accessed on 15.11.2020)

¹⁸ Ibid

¹⁹ Mark Pattison (10 January 2020), “Former cardinal moves from Kansas friary to new location,” National Catholic Reporter, https://www.ncronline.org/news/justice/former-cardinal-moves-kansas-friary-new-location (Accessed on 18.11.2020)

²⁰ Carlo Maria Viganò (25 August 2018), “Pope Francis covered up McCarrick abuse, former US nuncio testifies (Official Text),” LifeSite News, https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/former-us-nuncio-pope-francis-knew-of-mccarricks-misdeeds-repealed-sanction (Accessed on 17.11.2020)

²¹ Carlo Maria Viganò (23 October 2020), “Viganò: The Pope and the Gay Lobby in the Vatican, Intentional Ambiguity,” https://www.marcotosatti.com/2020/10/23/vigano-the-pope-and-the-gay-lobby-in-the-vatican-intentional-ambiguity/ (Accessed on 15.11.2020)