Pope questioned about cover-up accusations

Pope Francis declined Sunday to confirm or deny claims by the Vatican’s retired ambassador to the United States that he knew in 2013 about sexual misconduct accusations against the former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, but rehabilitated him anyway. As the pope wrapped up a two-day visit to Ireland over the weekend, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò published a letter accusing senior Vatican officials of knowing as early as 2000 that McCarrick regularly invited seminarians into his bed. Francis said Viganò’s 11-page text “speaks for itself” and that he wouldn’t comment on it.

Viganò in his letter called out Vatican leaders for attempts at “subverting Catholic doctrine on homosexuality.” He butted heads with Francis during the pope’s 2015 visit to the United States, when he arranged a meeting with Kim Davis, a Kentucky county clerk who stirred up controversy by standing up for Biblical marriage. After news of the meeting leaked to the media, Francis insisted he did not meet privately with Davis and said through a spokesman that the meeting should not be construed as support of her position “in all of its particular and complex aspects.”