The ex cardinal Theodore Makarik is accused by US justice for sexual abuse of a teenager, which makes him the highest-ranking representative of the Roman Catholic Church prosecuted in the US for acts related to the huge pedophilia scandal within the US Church.
The former 91-year-old former archbishop of Washington faces three counts of sexually abusing a child over the age of 14, according to documents from a Massachusetts court.
Theodore Makarik was disfigured in 2019, a sentence almost unprecedented in the history of the Church. The Vatican has convicted him of sexually abusing at least one teenager in the 1970s and of sexually abusing adult seminarians. Makarik, who played a key role in raising donations from wealthy Americans, was ousted as Cardinal in 2018. The 450-page report released by the Vatican in 2020 said the former cardinal had reached the top of the list. Church, despite repeated charges against him for sexual offenses.
Last November, the Holy See acknowledged that Pope John Paul II had ignored the warnings and even promoted Theodore Makaric, despite persistent rumors that accompanied him, which were later confirmed by justice.
Prosecutors accuse 91-year-old Makarik of raping a 16-year-old while they were together at a Massachusetts university for his brother’s wedding. The victim claims that the former cardinal dragged him to a room and touched his genitals while at the same time “reciting prayers”.
Makarik has been confronted with his victims at other times, but in civil courts. This is the first time a case has been brought to criminal justice.
The victim’s lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, said his client “showed courage” when he made his complaint. “He is the first cardinal to be prosecuted in the United States for a sexual offense against a minor,” he said.
For his part, the lawyer of Makarik Barry Coburn, told the French Agency that the former cardinal is “in a hurry” to take the case to court.
In recent years, the Roman Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of pedophile scandals. In 2018, a Pennsylvania prosecutor’s investigation shed light on offenses committed by more than 300 “priest-predators” against at least 1,000 children. These acts were concealed by the ecclesiastical authorities of this State.
From 1950 to 2016, the Roman Catholic Church in the United States received complaints from more than 18,500 victims with at least 6,700 members of the clergy, according to bishop-accountability.org. Many Church leaders were forced to resign when it was revealed that they were protecting priests guilty of sexually harassing children, such as Bernard Lowe, who died in 2017.
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