The Vatican’s long-awaited report on the rise of former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was finally published yesterday. The document reveals that complaints about Mr. McCarrick’s abuse of seminarians reached all the way to Pope John Paul II, and that allegations of his abuse of children reached at least to John Paul’s top advisors.

In this deep dive episode of “Inside the Vatican,” America’s Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell and producer Colleen Dulle explain the rise and fall of Theodore McCarrick, once the most prominent prelate in the U.S. Catholic church.

The two unpack the accusations made in Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano’s incendiary 2018 letter and how those are addressed in the Vatican’s recent report. Gerry gives an up-close view of how the events of the last two years unfolded, and Colleen raises questions about whether this report will usher in a new era of accountability.

You can find a transcript of this conversation at https://www.americamagazine.org/voices/inside-vatican. 

Links from the show:

Gerard O’Connell | Deep Dive: The McCarrick Report and the popes it implicates

Colleen Dulle | Top 5 Takeaways from the McCarrick Report

The McCarrick Report and Pope John Paul II: Confronting a saint’s tarnished legacy

Inside the Vatican | A 3-minute summary of what the McCarrick Report reveals

U.S. Catholic leaders react to the McCarrick report

Colleen Dulle | Explainer: What the church has done to fight clergy sex abuse since 2018’s ‘summer of shame’

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