Free Republic

What Does Cardinal Wuerl Know That's Worth $2 Million?The headline for this piece was the first thought I had upon reading the following from The Pillar:The Archdiocese of Washington has allocated more than $2 million for the “ministry activities” of retired Cardinal Donald Wuerl.The archdiocese, which has pledged in recent years a commitment to financial transparency, has not responded to questions about the details of Wuerl’s continued ministry, the costs associated with it, or the source of the funds allocated for Wuerl.According to financial records of the Archdiocese of Washington, $2,012,639 was designated for “continuing ministry activities for [the] Archbishop...

Mr. Biden and the Matter of ScandalReaders may recall that during the 2004 presidential campaign, Sen. John Kerry led the Democratic ticket. As a Catholic, Kerry held certain policy views that conflicted with the moral beliefs of his Church. This led to internal tensions among U.S. bishops about how to handle the matter of Holy Communion for Catholic public officials who publicly and persistently diverge from Catholic teaching on issues like abortion. At the time, Washington’s then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, along with Pittsburgh’s Bishop Donald Wuerl, had very different views from my own regarding how to proceed. I believed then, and...

[Catholic Caucus] Archbishop Wilton Gregory’s Lackluster Start Cardinal Donald Wuerl “lies shamelessly” and “prevails upon” his chief of staff, Monsignor Charles Antonicelli, to “lie as well,” wrote Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò in his bombshell memo last year. Where is Antonicelli today? He is serving the relatively new archbishop of Washington, D.C., Wilton Gregory, in the same capacity!It is business as usual under Gregory, a protégé of the clericalist monster Joseph Bernardin, a biographical detail that explains many of Gregory’s corrupt instincts. I’m told that Gregory has moved into Wuerl’s old posh digs — a palatial Embassy Row penthouse into...

[Catholic Caucus] Viganò: Complaints of Homosexual Abuse Filed Against Msgr. Walter Rossi Says rector of Washington, D.C. basilica is 'without a doubt a member of the gay mafia' WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò is confirming that, as papal nuncio, he received complaints of homosexual predation and harassment by Msgr. Walter Rossi, rector of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. "Monsignor Rossi is, without a doubt, a member of the 'gay mafia,'" Viganò said in remarks to Italian journalist Marco Tosatti on Saturday.  Handpicked by Cdl. Theodore McCarrick Msgr. Walter Rossi The former papal...

[Catholic Caucus] Bishops Remain Silent in the Face of Cdl. Wuerl’s Deceit Dr. John Zmirak: 'A comprehensive failure and moral disgrace' Will the U.S. bishops issue a formal censure of Cdl. Donald Wuerl for lying about his knowledge of Theodore McCarrick's conduct and the restrictions imposed on him? This is the question Church Militant posed to U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) Public Affairs Director Judy Keane, as the bishops convened this week in Baltimore for their biannual meeting. There are 441 active and retired Catholic bishops in the United States, and to date none have come forward to decry the...

Newly Published McCarrick Letters Vindicate Viganò VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Newly released letters vindicate Abp. Carlo Maria Viganò, proving that Pope Benedict imposed restrictions on Theodore McCarrick and that Cdl. Donald Wuerl knew of these restrictions, in spite of his claims to the contrary. They also prove that McCarrick ignored those restrictions. Correspondence published Tuesday by Msgr. Anthony J. Figueiredo, former personal secretary to McCarrick when he served as head of the archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey. My decision follows attempts since September 2018 to share and discuss these with the Holy See and other Church leaders.Tweet "After long consideration,...

McCarrick correspondence confirms restrictions, speaks to Wuerl and China ROME - Correspondence obtained by Crux from an ex-aide to Theodore McCarrick, the former cardinal laicized over charges of sexual misconduct and abuse, confirms that restrictions on McCarrick were imposed by the Vatican in 2008. McCarrick also claims that Cardinal Donald Wuerl, then the Archbishop of Washington, was aware of them and involved in conversations about their implementation.Though the details of those restrictions have never been made public, the correspondence shows McCarrick promising not to travel without express Vatican permission and to resign from all roles at the Vatican and within...

[Catholic Caucus] How Cardinal Wuerl Misled the Papal Foundation In 2017, Cardinal Donald Wuerl provided false and misleading information to the board of the Papal Foundation to secure a $25 million grant for the Istituto Dermopatico dell’Immacolata (IDI), a scandal-plagued hospital in Rome. Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin requested this grant from the Papal Foundation in June 2017, on behalf of Pope Francis. When the Papal Foundation board met in December 2017 to discuss the grant, Wuerl made two false assertions which were recorded in the meeting minutes. First, he claimed that the Italian religious congregation that oversaw...

[Catholic Caucus] Washington, D.C. gets a liberal archbishop The good news is the next archbishop of Washington, D.C., is not Cardinal Cupich, Cardinal Tobin or Bishop McElroy.  The bad news is, according to Catholic News Agency, the new archbishop will be Wilton Gregory. A disciple of Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Gregory is not just liberal on some things; rather, he is liberal on everything. On abortion. On natural law and the traditional family. On dissident priests. On the translations of the novus ordo. Even on dressing for the beach at Mass. If true, this is a disaster for the United States. ...

Wuerl Allowed Homosexual Predator to Live With Seminarians Permitted McCarrick's living arrangements at IVE Seminary WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - Cardinal Donald Wuerl allowed Theodore McCarrick to move onto seminary property, in spite of knowing about allegations of homosexual predation, giving McCarrick free access to seminarians, some who lived and traveled with him. In 2009, McCarrick was ordered by Pope Benedict to move out of Redemptoris Mater Archdiocesan Seminary in Washington, D.C. McCarrick then moved into a parish, but shortly afterwards left to live on the grounds of another seminary: the Institute of the Incarnate Word (Instituto del Verbo Encarnado, IVE), with Wuerl's full knowledge and permission. As Church...

Washington D.C., Jan 16, 2019 / 11:20 am (CNA).- Cardinal Donald Wuerl will not celebrate the Jan. 18 Mass for Life, to be held at a youth rally before the annual March for Life. Wuerl was until today scheduled to be the principal celebrant of the Mass.  In his stead will be Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, the Archdiocese of Washington announced on Wednesday.  Pierre will be joined by Washington auxiliary bishops Mario Dorsonville and Roy Campbell, who will represent the archdiocese. The Youth Rally and Mass for Life takes place the morning of the annual March...

D.C.'s embattled Catholic leader, Donald Wuerl, under fire in recent days for untruthful statements regarding what he knew about the alleged sexual misconduct of his predecessor, Theodore McCarrick, apologized late Tuesday, saying he forgot he knew about the allegations and that it was “never the intention to provide false information.” Wuerl apologized to former priest Robert Ciolek in the evening and then sent a letter to the priests of the archdiocese, where Wuerl is the acting administrator. Pope Francis received Wuerl’s retirement as archbishop earlier than expected last fall as the cardinal was being pummeled by criticism over his handling...

Cdl. Wuerl asks for ‘understanding’ after evidence shows he lied about McCarrick WASHINGTON, D.C., January 14, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – In a January 12 letter addressed to the priests of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Donald Wuerl offered no apology for months of deceitful statements denying his knowledge of sex abuse allegations against disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Instead, he asked for “understanding.” The letter (read full letter below) comes after news last week that Wuerl was deceitful about his knowledge of sex abuse allegations against McCarrick, further vindicating the testimony from former Papal Nuncio Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò on who knew about...

Francis and Sexual Abuse. The Pope Who Knew Too Much Pope Francis has already made it clear for some time how he judges and how he intends to address the question of sexual abuse among sacred ministers. As a problem not primarily of sex but of power, not of individuals but of caste, the clerical caste.He gave this to be understood in the letter on this question that he addressed to the “people of God” on August 20, 2018, in which he never mentions “sexual abuse” on its own, but in the combination of “sexual abuse, the abuse of power...

Long before he concealed McCarrick’s misconduct, he had done the same for his mentor. In the latest revelation about Donald Wuerl — that, contrary to his claims of ignorance, he knew about McCarrick’s misconduct for at least 14 years — he emerges as the amoral but self-protective bureaucrat, undone by his own pass-the-buck-style record-keeping, which gives a grimly ironic dimension to his downfall. Wuerl’s policy wasn’t one of zero tolerance but of zero legal exposure, and toward that end he needed to keep records of complaints he had received and transmitted to the papal nuncio.

What Begins in Bad Theology Ends in Police Raids Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, whose Galveston-Houston chancery was raided this week by prosecutors in search of abuse-related files, always struck me as a pretty haunted and compromised figure. DiNardo came out of Pittsburgh and the corrupt milieu of Cardinal John Wright, who was an accused pederast and a mentor to such slimy prelates as Donald Wuerl. Google DiNardo and Cardinal Wright and a creepy picture comes up of a young DiNardo sitting next to Wright in a white tuxedo. Wright liked to dress his seminarians up in such attire, just as Wuerl...

And his cronies, even at this late hour, still practice to deceive. Ever since Theodore McCarrick’s exposure as a molester earlier this year, his cronies, patrons, and protectors have downplayed his squalid crimes. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, his successor who sent underlings to work for him even after learning of an investigation into his abuse, pooh-poohed the McCarrick scandal. “I don’t think this is some massive, massive crisis,” he said. Now Fr. John Jenkins, the president of Notre Dame, which conferred honors upon McCarrick before his scandal, warned Catholics this week not to turn McCarrick into a “monster.” Jenkins cast McCarrick’s...

In late September, I started getting calls from concerned Catholics in Newark, New Jersey that Cardinal Joseph Tobin “had an Italian actor living at his cathedral basilica rectory.” The callers identified the actor as Francesco Castiglione. They said that Castiglione has been taking English and voice classes at Seton Hall University, and suggested that he is the real recipient of Tobin’s infamous accidental tweet from earlier this year. (“Nighty, Night baby, I love you,” Tobin wrote to someone whom he claimed later was one of his sisters; the sister has never published proof of receiving the tweet.)I then called up...

WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - The attorney general for the District of Columbia announced Tuesday he's opening a criminal probe into clerical sex abuse cover-up. Karl Racine made the announcement Tuesday at a breakfast with elected officials. It comes one day after his office set up a sex abuse hotline to report crimes committed by priests in D.C., and less than two weeks after Cdl. Donald Wuerl announced that the pope had accepted his resignation. Wuerl has come under intense fire over the past several months ever since the 884-page Pennsylvania grand jury report revealed Wuerl took part in protecting predator priests,...

D.C. Archdiocese runs ad on CNN praising Cdl. Wuerl’s ‘accomplishments’ WASHINGTON, D.C., October 16, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – The Archdiocese of Washington purchased advertising on CNN’s website to promote Pope Francis’s complimentary regard for outgoing Cardinal Archbishop Donald Wuerl - paid for through its communications office, which gets financial support from Catholics in the pews.  The ad is flagged by CNN at the top with the message, “Paid Content,” and a disclaimer appears beneath the archdiocese’s own headline, resembling a sub-headline, stating, “Sponsored by the Catholic Standard.” The Standard is the newspaper for the Archdiocese of Washington. Journalist George Neumayr...