Ex-Cardinal McCarrick, 91, due in court in sex assault case

BOSTON – Former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, the once-powerful prelate who was expelled from the priesthood for intersexual abuse, was heckled arsenic helium arrived astatine tribunal Friday to look accusations that helium sexually assaulted a 16-year-old lad during a wedding reception successful Massachusetts astir 50 years ago.

Wearing a mask, McCarrick, 91, walked hunched implicit and pushing a walker arsenic helium made his mode into suburban Boston’s Dedham District Court. “Shame connected you!” a protester shouted.

McCarrick is expected to participate a plea astatine his arraignment, which came much than a period after helium was charged. He is the lone U.S. Catholic cardinal, existent oregon former, ever to beryllium criminally charged with kid enactment crimes.

McCarrick's attorney, Barry Coburn, said aft the charges were filed successful July that they “look guardant to addressing the lawsuit successful the courtroom.”

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McCarrick, who present lives successful Dittmer, Missouri, faces 3 counts of indecent battle and artillery connected a idiosyncratic implicit 14, according to tribunal documents. He tin inactive look charges due to the fact that helium wasn’t a Massachusetts nonmigratory and had near the state, stopping the timepiece connected the statute of limitations.

McCarrick’s autumn began successful 2017 erstwhile a erstwhile altar lad came guardant to study the clergyman had groped him erstwhile helium was a teen successful New York. The adjacent year, the Archdiocese of New York announced that McCarrick had been removed from ministry aft uncovering the allegation to beryllium “credible and substantiated,” and 2 New Jersey dioceses revealed they had settled claims of intersexual misconduct against him successful the past involving adults.

Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick successful 2019 aft a Vatican probe determined helium sexually abused minors, arsenic good arsenic adults.

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A two-year interior probe into McCarrick found that 3 decades of bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed oregon dismissed aggregate reports of intersexual misconduct. The investigative findings released past twelvemonth pinned overmuch of the blasted connected Pope John Paul II, who appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington, D.C., contempt having commissioned an enquiry that confirmed McCarrick slept with seminarians.

In the Massachusetts case, the antheral told authorities during an interrogation successful January that McCarrick was adjacent to his household erstwhile helium was increasing up and that the maltreatment started erstwhile helium was a young boy.

The antheral said that during his brother’s wedding reception astatine Wellesley College successful June 1974 — erstwhile helium was 16 — McCarrick told him that his begetter wanted him to person a speech with McCarrick due to the fact that the lad was “being mischievous astatine location and not attending church.”

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The antheral said that the 2 of them went for a locomotion astir field and McCarrick groped him earlier they went backmost to the party. The antheral said McCarrick besides sexually assaulted him successful a “coat country benignant closet” aft they returned to the reception, authorities wrote successful the documents.

The antheral told investigators that earlier leaving the room, McCarrick told him to “say 3 Our Fathers and a Hail Mary oregon it was 1 Our Father and 3 Hail Marys, truthful God tin redeem you of your sins,” according to the report.

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