Archbishop Viganò warns that McCarrick’s followers ‘remain in power’

[Stone]

Archbishop Viganò warns that McCarrick’s followers ‘remain in power’
'They still remain in power, in America & in the Vatican, those whom McCarrick shamelessly called 'my nephews,'' Archbishop Viganò wrote.

Apr 7, 2025
VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Reacting to the death of Theodore McCarrick, former U.S. papal nuncio and whistleblower Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò has warned about the remaining influence the ex-cardinal still has on those in high-ranking positions, particularly in America.

The April 3 death of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick was revealed to the world on Friday, as the highly influential American died at the age of 94.

He was expelled from the College of Cardinals in 2018, and was laicized in 2019, becoming the most senior cleric in history to be laicized for sexual misconduct.

Though numerous journalists and clergy have attested to knowledge of McCarrick’s homosexual predation being widespread even in the 1980s, public testimony against him had to wait until 2018.

Archbishop Viganò emerged as a key figure in the ensuing McCarrick scandal, after he famously accused Pope Francis of knowing about McCarrick’s serial predation, about the restrictions imposed on McCarrick by Benedict XVI, and of deliberately repealing such restrictions.

Viganò’s 2018 testimony took the Church and much of the world by storm, with the 11-page text naming numerous prominent prelates and accusing Francis of making McCarrick “his trusted counselor.”

In a statement issued to this correspondent following McCarrick’s death, Viganò opined on what the death of the ex-cardinal portends for the Church:

The death of Theodore McCarrick, whose horrendous crimes & perversions I have denounced since 2006 & whom I have also publicly called to repentance & conversion, leaves behind dozens, hundreds of victims to whom neither the canonical nor civil courts have ever accorded justice.

Indeed, though McCarrick was laicized by the Vatican, he had never been found guilty in courts in the civil sphere, despite cases brought against him. Court cases brought against him in his final years of life ended up being dropped after the court decided that the ex-cardinal was not fit to stand trial in August 2023 due to his claim of having dementia.

Viganò also pointed to the “protégés” of McCarrick who remain in situ in a number of high-ranking offices, including current Washington, D.C. Cardinal Archbishop Robert McElroy:

They still remain in power, in America & in the Vatican, those whom McCarrick shamelessly called ‘my nephews,’ promoted to the episcopate & cardinalate, as corrupt & blackmailable as himself.

He remains unpunished on the Throne of Peter the usurper of the Papacy, who owes his election to McCarrick. Remains rampant the plague of sodomy, the main cause of moral decay & corruption in the ecclesiastical Hierarchy.

In his 2018 testimony, Viganò said that McCarrick helped Francis in key appointments in the United States, including that of Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago, whom Pope Francis previously tasked with organizing a Vatican summit on clerical sexual abuse.

Viganò also attested that McElroy was aware of McCarrick’s abuses, and that Viganò was instructed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin to keep the San Diego episcopate open for McElroy. He, said the former nuncio, was just one of many prelates who owed their rise to McCarrick.

Public pressure on the Vatican following the breakout of the McCarrick scandal eventually led to the publishing of the much anticipated “McCarrick report” in the fall of 2020. Though containing certain detailed aspects of the ex-cardinal’s life, the report was criticized by lay Catholics for what it lacked, particularly given that it sought to excuse Pope Francis from any culpability and lay all blame on Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI.

The McCarrick report also sought to blame Archbishop Viganò for part of the affair. Viganò responded by describing the report as presenting “unfounded accusations” against him.

The former U.S. Nuncio was declared guilty of “schism” and automatically excommunicated by the Vatican last July – a verdict he has consistently rejected.

McCarrick’s predatory homosexual abuse and the public scandal has also highlighted the uncomfortable aspect of how many in the hierarchy knew of his actions but refused to take action. Indeed, it has become the pin-up example for ecclesial cover-up.

Veteran journalist and author Rod Dreher recalled the widespread network of determined silence amongst clerics and journalists when it came to the subject of McCarrick’s abuse.

“Uncle Ted’s influence continues beyond the grave. The past isn’t even past,” he commented:

If the mission of the Church depends on rolling over innocent victims of its perverted clergy, marginalizing them, attacking their families, well, too bad for the victims. The guilt here lies primarily with the hierarchy. But it also lies with lower clergy (people like [Father Benedict] Groeschel) and Catholic laity, and non-Catholics too, who knew what was happening, or should have known, but instead preferred to protect their own peace of mind.

Many of McCarrick’s protégés and friends are indeed at work today, including influential individuals like Cardinals McElroy and Farrell.

Though the former D.C. cardinal has died, the Church continues to live with the consequences of his actions, and senior figures at the Vatican must learn swiftly the lessons that the scandal has to teach.