Cardinal Donald Wuerl has issued an apology letter last week to the priests of the Archdiocese of Washington, according to The Washington Post, in which he said that he forgot he was informed in 2004 about the allegations of sexual misconduct by his predecessor, ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick.
Wuerl had last summer denied having heard of any such sexual misconduct accusations. Last year, Pope Francis had accepted Wuerl’s resignation in the face of criticism about his handling of sexual abuse and related cover-up scandals in Pittsburg and Washington, D.C. However, Wuerl remains the acting administrator of the archdiocese until the appointment of a new archbishop.
“Nonetheless, it is important for me to accept personal responsibility and apologize for this lapse of memory. There was never the intention to provide false information,” Wuerl wrote in his letter of apology, adding he wanted to “apologize for any additional grief my failure might have also brought the survivor.”
The letter comes at a time when U.S. Catholics’ trust in the church is shaken, as per a new Gallup poll. Next month, Vatican is also convening a summit of bishops from all over the world to discuss the international sexual abuse crisis.
In a letter sent this month to U.S. bishops about the gathering, Pope Francis wrote, “The Church’s credibility has been seriously undercut and diminished by these sins and crimes, but even more by the efforts to deny or conceal them.” The Pope is also going to join the gathering.
The Vatican, which has been investigating allegations against McCarrick, said that it will make public its conclusions “in due course.”
Pope Accepts Resignation of US Cardinal Over Abuse Cover-Up Claim