Free Republic

“The situation is comparable to that of the Church in the 11th and 12th century.” As an authoritative Church historian and as president of the pontifical committee of historical sciences from 1998 to 2009, Cardinal Walter Brandmüller, 89, has no doubt when he sees the present-day Church “shaken to its foundations” on account of the spread of sexual abuse and homosexuality “in an almost epidemic manner among the clergy and even in the hierarchy.”“How could it have come to this point?” the cardinal wonders. And his answer is found in an extensive and detailed article published in recent days in...

Pope Francis Orders New, ‘Thorough’ Study of Archbishop McCarrick In a statement, the Vatican says it is conscious that the new study may reveal choices not “consonant with a contemporary approach to such issues.” Pope Francis has decided to combine the results of an investigation begun last year into Archbishop Theodore McCarrick with a new, “thorough study” of all the documentation contained in the Vatican archives in order to “ascertain all the relevant facts” surrounding the ex-cardinal. In an Oct. 6 communique (see below), the Vatican said the Pope had ordered the archdiocese of New York to begin a preliminary...

Archbishop McCarrick’s predatory career would not have been possible without the culpable silence or active complicity of men at the highest levels of the Church. Revelations of his abuse have therefore gravely damaged the credibility of the whole Catholic hierarchy. Here a group of young Catholics speaks with one voice about the need for a cleansing fire. Their statement is non-partisan, assuming nothing but the eternal validity of the Church’s teaching. They call for an independent investigation of who knew what and when, a new intolerance of clerical abuse and sexual sin, and public acts of penance by Catholic bishops....