Disgraced Ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Accused Of Sexual Abuse, Dies At 94
WASHINGTON — Theodore McCarrick — once one of the Catholic Church's most influential figures in the United States who was later defrocked following a Vatican investigation that found he had abused both adults and minors — has died at age 94.
McCarrick, who served as the archbishop of Washington from 2000 to 2006, remains one of the highest-ranking U.S. prelates accused in a sexual abuse scandal.
In a statement on Friday, Washington Cardinal Robert McElroy confirmed McCarrick’s death had taken place the previous day, but offered no further details. McElroy’s statement, however, was focused on the victims of McCarrick’s decades of abuse.
“At this moment I am especially mindful of those who he harmed during the course of his priestly ministry,” he said. “Through their enduring pain, may we remain steadfast in our prayers for them and for all victims of sexual abuse.”
In recent years, a series of court hearings revealed that McCarrick had been diagnosed with dementia. He had been residing in Dittmer, Missouri. when he died.
McCarrick’s rise to prominence within the church — marked by his close relationships with three popes — serves as a reminder of the institutional failures that allowed his abuse to continue unchecked for years. The McCarrick scandal rocked the church, exacerbating an ongoing crisis of credibility, particularly as it became clear that both Vatican and U.S. church leaders had been aware of his sexual misconduct with seminarians but chose to overlook it.
A 2020 Vatican report blamed this oversight on Pope John Paul II, who had appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington, D.C., in 2000, despite having commissioned an inquiry that confirmed he had abused seminarians. The 449-page report found that the claims against McCarrick dated back decades and that Pope Francis did nothing to cover up abuse reports. Instead, the report found, Francis had just continued handling the matter in the same way his predecessors had dating back to 1999.
“The allegations against McCarrick had been an open secret for years,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director of BishopAccountability.org, “His fellow cardinals and bishops knew; a cadre of high-ranking Vatican officials knew; Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI knew; and Pope Francis knew or should have known.”
In 2019, Pope Francis had defrocked McCarrick, who claimed he was innocent. However, McCarrick cooperated with the church’s probe and did not contest its findings.
“I am sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through, as well as for the scandal such charges cause our people,” McCarrick said at the time.
A 2019 Washington Post investigation found that starting in 2001, McCarrick had sent checks totaling more than $600,000 to 100 powerful Catholic clerics — some of them directly involved in assessing misconduct claims against him — drawn from a special charity account of the Archdiocese of Washington.
The McCarrick scandal erupted in July 2018 after the Archdiocese of New York reported it had substantiated a claim of sexual abuse of a minor against the former cardinal, while two New Jersey dioceses had also revealed they had settled lawsuits against him in the past involving adults.
McCarrick had been a priest in New York City from 1958, when he was ordained, until 1981, when he became bishop of Metuchen, N.J. He served as archbishop of Newark from 1986 until 2000 and was elevated to cardinal in 2001. He participated in the conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.
McCarrick — an effective fundraiser who some even called “Uncle Ted” — had once even taken credit for helping elect Francis to the papacy.
The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests responded to McCarrick’s death expressing frustration that the ex-cardinal never stood trial for his crimes.
“McCarrick was never held accountable for his crimes,” the group said. “While he was eventually removed from public ministry, defrocked and stripped of his red hat, he never stood trial for the vast harm he inflicted on children, young adults, seminarians and others under his power.”
In 2023, a Massachusetts state judge had ruled that McCarrick was not competent to stand trial on the criminal sexual abuse charges brought against him.
SNAP added that the “McCarrick story is not just about one man. It is about the system that enabled him.”
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged.