Vatican City, May 28, 2019 / 01:54 am (CNA).- A former priest-secretary to Theodore McCarrick has issued a report that claims to contain excerpted quotes from correspondence between the disgraced former cardinal McCarrick and various church officials.
The quotes seem to contain admissions of wrongdoing from McCarrick, and to confirm subsequent reports about the Vatican’s response to the former cardinal’s behavior.
Msgr. Anthony Figueiredo of the Archdiocese of Newark published a website, “The Figueiredo Report,” May 28 which contains apparent excerpts from private correspondence between McCarrick, the priest, and various other Church officials.
News of the priest’s report was first reported by CBS News and news site Crux.
Neither the full text of the correspondence nor images of the letters have been published on Figueiredo’s site.
“I present facts from correspondence that I hold relevant to questions still surrounding McCarrick. These facts show clearly that high-ranking prelates likely had knowledge of McCarrick’s actions and of restrictions imposed upon him during the pontificate of Benedict XVI. They also clearly show that these restrictions were not enforced even before the pontificate of Francis,” Figueiredo’s report claims.
“It is not my place to judge to what extent the fault lies with the failure to impose canonical penalties, instead of mere restrictions, at the start, or with other Church leaders who later failed to expose McCarrick’s behavior and the impropriety of his continued public activity, and indeed may have encouraged it,” the priest writes.
In one apparent excerpt, from a September 2008 letter from McCarrick to Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, McCarrick wrote that “in one particular [case] I had been at fault in an unfortunate lack of judgment. I have always considered my priests and seminarians as part of my family, and just as I have shared a bed with my cousins and uncles and other relatives without thinking of it being wrong, I had done this on occasion when the Diocesan Summer House was overcrowded. In no case were there minors involved, but men in their twenties and thirties.”
However, “I have never had sexual relations with anyone, man, woman or child, nor have I ever sought such acts,” McCarrick reportedly wrote to Bertone.
The quotes excerpted by the monsignor, who was formerly attached to the Pontifical North American College in Rome as a spiritual director, appear to confirm claims by former apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, that in 2008 McCarrick was ordered to leave the archdiocesan seminary where he had been living.
Sources present at a 2008 meeting between then-nuncio Archbishop Sambi and McCarrick told CNA in August 2018 the former cardinal had been ordered out of that seminary.
According to Figueiredo, McCarrick wrote in a letter to Sambi after that meeting that “having studied the letter of Cardinal Re and having shared it with my Archbishop, I pledge again that I shall always try to be a good servant of the Church even if I do not understand its desires in my life. Of course, I am ready to accept the Holy Father’s will in my regard.”
“I could find a place to live in one of the parishes of the Archdiocese of Washington. The Archbishop is willing to arrange for that in any area that the Holy See would desire,” McCarrick apparently added.
“In summary, in the future I will make no commitments to accept any public appearances or talks without the express permission of the Apostolic Nuncio or the Holy See itself.”
After leaving the seminary residence in early 2009, McCarrick moved into a specially renovated suite of rooms at the parish of St. Thomas the Apostle in Woodley Park, an upscale neighborhood in central Washington D.C.
In August, a priest resident in the parish in 2008-2009 told CNA that he been told McCarrick was “no longer allowed” to live in the seminary, and that Cardinal Wuerl had “ordered” the move, but he stressed that he did not have direct knowledge of those circumstances.
In August 2018, Figueiredo made public statements in support of Vigano.
“I know him personally,” Figueuiredo said at the time. “I know him as a man of great integrity, honest to the core.”
The excerpts from Figueredo’s correspondence also appear to confirm reports that McCarrick played an ongoing, though sometimes unofficial, role in Vatican diplomatic efforts, especially in China, during the pontificates of both Benedict XVI and Francis.
Some Vatican officials have said Figueiredo’s report does not fully explain the ways in which McCarrick operated in the Vatican.
Sources at the Congregation for Bishops in Rome told CNA that Figueiredo’s excerpts offer only “partial” context for McCarrick’s apparent ability to work around the imposition of restrictions on his ministry.
“McCarrick was very good at exploiting the left and right hands not speaking,” an official at the Congregation for Bishops said.
“[Cardinal] Re could tell [McCarrick] ‘No appearances, no living here,’ and then [McCarrick] would go to Bertone and present himself as being available for discreet use, ask to travel somewhere and use the conflicting instructions to slip through the cracks.”
Another official close to the Congregation said that McCarrick exploited a curial culture which resisted plain speaking.
“He would talk and write about needing to keep a low profile, about having to change residence, but never explicitly say why. Those that knew didn’t need it to be spelled out, those that didn’t but suspected were smart enough not to ask,” he explained.
The same official told CNA that piecing together McCarrick’s complex engagement with various curial office is part of an investigation now being undertaken by the Congregation for Bishops at the direction of Pope Francis.
“The man made a total mess of the communications with Bishops, State, the Holy Father, the dioceses, everyone,” he said. “Anyone looking to check on him could find three different things in three different places.”
CNA has learned from senior sources in Rome that the Archdiocese of Washington has already completed a review of all of McCarrick’s personal correspondence and forwarded the results to Rome.
A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Washington declined to comment about that review.
The spokesman did tell CNA that “Cardinal Wuerl has previously stated – and he reiterates again – that he was not aware of any imposition of sanctions or restrictions related to any claim of abuse or inappropriate activity by Theodore McCarrick. Based on descriptions from [media report], none of the documents released today explicitly indicate that Cardinal Wuerl had any such knowledge.”
Figueiredo, who served as priest-secretary to McCarrick for one year in the 1990s, previously described McCarrick as a “spiritual father.” He told CBS News that revelations about McCarrick had driven him to a relapse of alcoholism.
In October 2018, Figueiredo was involved in a car accident outside of London, in which he hit another vehicle, driven by a pregnant woman. A visibly intoxicated Figueiredo initially stopped after the accident, but then fled the scene. He was caught by police and tested at more than twice the legal limit of alcohol. He pled guilty to driving under the influence and received an 18 month driving ban.
Figueiredo was employed on a part-time basis by the EWTN News Vatican Bureau as a “Senior Contributor” beginning November 2017 and ending on October 27, 2018 following news reports of his guilty plea for drunk driving. CNA is a service of EWTN News.
Senior sources at the Archdiocese of Newark, where Figueiredo is incardinated, told CNA that the priest was asked, and then directed, to return to the archdiocese following his road accident last year.
Despite repeated instructions to return to his home archdiocese, they told CNA, Figueiredo has refused to do so, or to meet with his archbishop, Cardinal Joseph Tobin. He has remained in Rome without an ecclesiastical assignment, sources said.
“There has been contact between him and the cardinal, but it’s done little good.”
According to a May 28 report from CBS News, Figueiredo says he has now “embraced a life of sobriety” and claims to have been “trying for months” to share the correspondence with Church leaders, though the report does not specify the nature of those efforts, and makes no mention of his apparent resistance to meet with his own archbishop.
Beginning in November 2018, Figueiredo approached CNA and other EWTN News media outlets to indicate possession of correspondence concerning McCarrick. The priest was unwilling to provide access to primary documents, offering only excerpts, and his overtures were declined.
On May 28, Crux reported that it had been given original copies of the correspondence in Figueiredo’s report, and had them authenticated by “a cyber-security expert.”
While complete copies of the correspondence have not been released by Figueiredo, the priest claims that he was inspired to release some information by Pope Francis.
“Pope Francis himself has asked all of the church to be transparent. That’s the reason I feel a moral obligation to put out this correspondence.”
[…]
Peace is precious. Non-violence is a time tested value. Democracy is a continuous process. In a democracy, each one is invited to contribute to the peace process. Long live democracy.
I am glad that the US is not a democracy, but a republic, since all democracies end in tyranny. Donald Trump was elected on Nov. 3, but morning came and it was stolen with tens of thousands of illegal ballots. They told us beforehand what they were going to do and they did it. If Biden is installed on Jan. 20 we will then be a banana republic. And one other thing, most of the protesters were let in by the police and were antifa. President Trump’s voters are peaceful protesters unlike the demoncrats.
Yes, this must be condemned, this movement (Pope Francis). Francis correctly calls for healing the violence. Condemn the movement? The movement is at least 72 million Americans who voted for Trump, many who faithfully hold to Catholicism. Who are against abortion. Who risk defending the unborn. Who reject homosexuality and its threat to the traditional family. Who are willing to stand up for religious liberty. What keeps us together as a Nation is exactly this sense of revolutionary Liberty of the founders, a belief in God given freedom, the inherent rights to live without immoderate restriction, to believe in a saving God, corrupted by a Catholic Supreme Court justice Anthony Kennedy in his opinion defining liberty sans principals Planned Parenthood E PA v Casey. Likely the intellectual catalyst that divided more conservative Christians and Mid Westerners from urban hardened hostile Marxist socialists. Result of the election ignited the spark, the volatility of the speech, yes even Trump’s admittedly narcissistic but not wholly untrue speech, march, the attack on the Capital that is perceived as betraying that most valued premise of God given freedom. We’re in for a fight, or the cowardly decision to lay down and enjoy the remaining moments of just peace until that is wrenched away from us. Our challenge is in response to the question, where does justice lie? In keeping up political decorum? Certainly not in violence. Rather it’s in the determined quest for the true and the good. Our failure as a Nation with the election of a moral turncoat will end in the suffering, and hopefully to find in disaster the redemption of those of us who have failed themselves and country. And many of us God.
When the Pope speaks of condemning ¨this¨ movement, it is a stretch to interpret it as his condemning all who voted for Trump. He is referring to any movement that involves violence.
The Holy Father is quite likely not knowing the ground situation and is unaware of the nuances – the mainstream media tar everyone with the same brush and he probably naively believed that narrative.
It is obvious that those who entered the Capitol also included Antifa / paid actors. Plus some of the events were cleverly staged and raise a lot of questions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0AM9xPFNFc
That said, re the ´many who faithfully hold to Catholicism´ bit – well the ´many´ bit is debatable. How many among that ´many´ adhere to the teaching of Humanae Vitae?
The tide will turn within a fortnight, and then of course, it remains to be seen what the ¨many…who reject homosexuality and its threat to the traditional family¨ are going to do when the ¨most pro-gay President¨ – https://twitter.com/LogCabinGOP/status/1296039209891819520 – continues his ´campaign to decriminalize homosexuality in 71 countries´ >> https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7092519/Trump-Republican-president-promote-LGBT-Pride-Month.html
What will they do when Trump ´accommodates´ the demand from some ¨Republican conservatives¨ such as https://logcabin.org/adoption/ (or those among them who will move to any new party that may be formed) to continue to allow ¨LGBT couples¨ to adopt or foster children?
Do those ¨who faithfully hold to Catholicism¨ have the numbers as well as the political will, courage, stomach and determination to overturn the ¨anthropological regression¨ of ´…laws “assimilating” homosexual relationships to marriage´? – https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope-francis-calls-for-civil-union-law-for-same-sex-couples-in-shift-from-vatican-stance-12462
´…(The Pope) expressed concern that if same-sex couples “are given adoption rights, there could be affected children. Every person needs a male father and a female mother that can help them shape their identity.”…´
This non-Catholic expressed one aspect of the problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWpvf-tZWIY
The system is broken. We are broken.
Kyrie eleison!
Yes, all isn’t black and white. We, nevertheless, mustn’t adopt your presumed omniscience and disparaging response. We hold fast to Christ and as priests we witness fearlessly to his truth. He will not abandon us as long as we hold firm. That’s what I convey to the faithful and to you.
Unsure what led to the ´omniscience´ label. [As an aside, I was reminded of ¨The aims of leftist labeling and censoring of conservatives as extremists¨ – https://www.debatez.com/forums/topic/the-aims-of-leftist-labeling-and-censoring-of-conservatives-as-extremists/ – so is this a case of the shoe being on the other foot?!] 🙂
In any case, if it is because of the confidence (based on multiple reports from various sources) that some things will happen in the coming days including the reversal of the tide, – that does not mean I know everything, nor do I claim to be ´omniscient´.
´disparaging response´?
Again, another (wrong) perception / interpretation.
I was simply pointing out the truth as borne witness through the content in the cited web pages – the intent being to point out stuff that needs to be highlighted for the benefit of those who may not quite be aware of those things. That is to say, it was merely to indicate areas where there are inconsistencies and work to do – which that non-Catholic woman has also rightly flagged in some respect.
If I intended to be disparaging, I would not have included myself in saying WE are broken.
I’m not convinced that Pope Francis has a clue what he’s talking about when he wades into U.S. politics.
“But we have to understand well that it does not repeat, learning from history.”
Shouldn’t we do the same for McCarrick? The report published by Vatican didn’t seem to impress most people I follow. I haven’t read it myself, but have been hearing it’s essentially just a report of blaming here and there, instead of admitting what’s going wrong in the Church / Vatican and how it could be solved. As a Catholic, I’m really sad I have to write something like this as a public comment, but I think we Catholics deserve to know what’s really going wrong so we can work together to prevent the same thing. Unfortunately, our dear pope seems to prefer silence when people tried to clarify controversial / ambiguous topics.
I’m astonished that he is astonished. Did he not say to “make a mess” and that “chaos is good” and he would be” seen as the Pope who divided the Church?” Does he not know what the earthly result of that is?
And silence about the violence against Christians in China? Selective astonishment.
Well, yes.
Good point. Truthfully ,I was pretty astonished at the mayhem in DC but compare the state of affairs here to what’s going on in communist China.
I think of everything going on in the world that’s disturbing and our betrayal of Christians in China has to be one of the worst offenses. Imagine what the early missionaries would think of us.
I am astonished that the Pope, to by my knowledge, has issued no statement in response to the legalization of abortion in his native land. I am astonished that such a man is the Vicar of Christ.
The Pope is astonished and condemns the violence?? Where was he when the BLM and antifa crowd set a church on fire across the street from the White House last summer and Donald Trump stepped out alone to present a picture of calm and authority? For which he was, as always , attacked by the Democrats,who complained the rioters were roughly treated, and who seemed to have no trouble letting the country burn all summer in Blue states. In fact the DEMs took the trouble to kneel in solidarity with the rioters!!! But now they are shocked!! Shocked they say, that a few protesters trashed Congressional offices. I do not support anyone rioting. But even less do I support smug self-serving politicians such as those on the left. Rules/Laws are supposed to apply to ALL or they should apply to NONE. For more than 2 centuries Americans have grown used to being the objects of hate. We do not care what non-Americans think of us.