Former Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick charged with sexual assault of teen boy
Sat. July 31, 2021 9:29 AM by Carlos Santoscoy
Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been charged with sexually assaulting a teenage boy.
According to court records obtained by The Boston Globe, the incident occurred during a wedding reception in the 1970s.
Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick, 91, in 2019 after a Vatican investigation concluded that he was a sexual predator.
According to the AP, the victim has said that McCarrick groped him when he was 16 during his brother's wedding reception held on the campus of Wellesley College. The man told investigators that McCarrick fondled him in a private room. McCarrick told him to pray to God for redemption of his sins.
The charges – three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 – make McCarrick the first cardinal in the United States to face sexual abuse charges against a minor.
The man making the allegations is represented by Mitchell Garabedian.
"It takes an enormous amount of courage for a sexual abuse victim to report having been sexually abused to investigators and proceed through the criminal process," Garabedian told the AP in an email. "Let the facts be presented, the law applied, and a fair verdict rendered."
According to court records obtained by The Boston Globe, the incident occurred during a wedding reception in the 1970s.
Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick, 91, in 2019 after a Vatican investigation concluded that he was a sexual predator.
According to the AP, the victim has said that McCarrick groped him when he was 16 during his brother's wedding reception held on the campus of Wellesley College. The man told investigators that McCarrick fondled him in a private room. McCarrick told him to pray to God for redemption of his sins.
The charges – three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over 14 – make McCarrick the first cardinal in the United States to face sexual abuse charges against a minor.
The man making the allegations is represented by Mitchell Garabedian.
"It takes an enormous amount of courage for a sexual abuse victim to report having been sexually abused to investigators and proceed through the criminal process," Garabedian told the AP in an email. "Let the facts be presented, the law applied, and a fair verdict rendered."
This article appeared at On Top Magazine and has been published here with permission.