On August 25, 2018, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, made public his testimony alleging corruption and a conspiracy of silence at the highest levels of the Church’s hierarchy. He stated that various cardinals and bishops engaged in a cover-up of sexual abuse by former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. He sent shockwaves around the world when he wrote, “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 the rest of them.”
Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, speaking on behalf of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, stated that the questions raised in Archbishop Viganò’s letter “deserve answers that are conclusive and based on evidence. Without those answers, innocent men may be tainted by false accusation and the guilty may be left to repeat sins of the past.”
I support a thorough and impartial investigation of any allegation of a cover-up in the case of Cardinal McCarrick, as a vital step in a long process toward re-establishing trust with Catholics everywhere.
People have been harmed very deeply. They are in need of healing and peace. The credibility and unity of our Church have suffered tremendously.
We are living in extraordinary times, and this calls for extraordinary holiness. Selfishness and sin must give way to purification and reform. We must adopt new instruments of oversight and accountability. We must go about the tasks of rebuilding, imploring the assistance of the Holy Spirit. We must maintain faith in the promise of Christ about his Church – that the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).
We are a people of hope. Gold is tested and purified by fire. The Lord God says, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).