Pope's Response to Allegations Against Him: 'Not One Word'

Francis tells journalists to read what Carlo Maria Vigano wrote, come to own conclusion
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 27, 2018 2:45 AM CDT
Updated Aug 27, 2018 6:12 AM CDT
Pope's Response to Allegations Against Him: 'Not One Word'
Pope Francis gestures as he answers to a journalist's question during a press conference aboard of the flight to Rome at the end of his two-day visit to Ireland, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018.   (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, Pool)

The National Catholic Register called the 11-page statement "extraordinary"; Pope Francis called it ... well, he didn't call it anything. Reuters reports that while speaking with reporters aboard the papal plane while en route from Dublin to Rome on Sunday, Francis said he would "not say one word" about the document penned by the Vatican's own former ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano. In it, Vigano alleges Francis knew about the sexual abuse wrought by former DC archbishop Theodore McCarrick as early as "June 23, 2013 and continued to cover him"; McCarrick continued to serve until he was forced out late last month. Vigano called on Francis to resign.

But the pope actually did say more than "not ... one word." He had this to say in regards to the text: "I read that statement this morning. I read it and I will say sincerely that I must say this, to you [the reporter] and all of you who are interested: Read the document carefully and judge it for yourselves. I will not say one word on this. I think the statement speaks for itself and you have sufficient journalistic capacity to reach your own conclusions." While the AP doesn't share any conclusion, it does discuss the document like so: "The letter also contains a lengthy diatribe about homosexuals and liberals in the Catholic church. It often reads like an ideological manifesto, naming all of Francis' known supporters in the US hierarchy as being complicit in a cover-up of McCarrick's misdeeds."
(More Pope Francis stories.)

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