(RNS) — Defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the highest-ranking U.S. Catholic prelate to face criminal charges for the sexual abuse of a minor, died Thursday (April 3), according to Vatican media.
In a statement, the current Archbishop of Washington, Cardinal Robert McElroy, told RNS, “At this moment I am especially mindful of those who he harmed during the course of his priestly ministry. Through their enduring pain, may we remain steadfast in our prayers for them and for all victims of sexual abuse.”
McCarrick, a greatly influential figure in the U.S. Catholic Church with a reputation as a fundraiser, also led the Diocese of Metuchen and the Archdiocese of Newark in New Jersey before becoming Archbishop of Washington in 2001, later being named cardinal by Pope John Paul II.
He was stripped of his cardinal rights and resigned from the College of Cardinals in 2018. He spent his last years in the Vianney Renewal Center in Missouri.
In 2002, McCarrick was among the U.S. prelates who drafted the “Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.” He continued to hold an influential role in the church until 2016.
FILE – In this Monday, April 18, 2005 file photo, U.S. Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick attends a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Reports of McCarrick sharing his bed with seminarians and other inappropriate behavior first emerged in 1994, but in 2018, reports from former seminarians and at least two minors in New Jersey detailed accusations that he had engaged in sexual misconduct. The New York Times reported that McCarrick had sexually abused an 11-year-old boy whom he had baptized, James Grein, in 1969. The abus …