A series of leaked emails has revived a long-simmering scandal involving defrocked Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, providing new evidence that the former archbishop of Washington, D.C., was disciplined after allegations of sexual misconduct but was nevertheless allowed to travel and work under Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.
The emails appear to confirm some of the allegations made last year by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, a former Vatican diplomat to the U.S., but do not appear to corroborate allegations that Francis was aware of the restrictions placed on McCarrick after McCarrick was accused of sleeping with seminarians.
Last year, the pontiff took away McCarrick’s rank of cardinal and banned him from ministry in the wake of a separate allegation that McCarrick abused a minor decades before.