A choose in Massachusetts declared defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick incompetent to face path on intercourse abuse fees after a court-ordered examination discovered the previous archbishop to have dementia.

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A choose in Massachusetts declared defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick incompetent to face path on intercourse abuse fees after a court-ordered examination discovered the previous archbishop to have dementia.

David L. Ryan/Getty Images

Theodore McCarrick was as soon as a cardinal – one of many highest-ranking positions within the Roman Catholic Church. He was additionally the archbishop of Washington, D.C. And he is the one present or former U.S. cardinal to ever face intercourse abuse fees.

But now a choose in Massachusetts has dismissed a felony case towards McCarrick stemming from the alleged molestation of a 16-year-old boy there in 1974.

Two years in the past, McCarrick pleaded not responsible.

The choose’s transfer comes after examinations of the 93-year-old discovered that he has dementia.

In 2019, the church expelled McCarrick from the priesthood following an inner investigation that discovered a number of situations of sexual misconduct. Later, the Vatican issued a report saying that Pope John Paul II promoted him regardless of data of intercourse abuse allegations.

McCarrick additionally faces a sexual assault cost in Wisconsin, stemming from an alleged incident there in 1977.

Prosecutors had been in a position to carry felony fees towards McCarrick in each Massachusetts and Wisconsin a long time after the alleged incidents happened as a result of the legislation in these states freezes the statutes of limitation for non-residents who go away the state.

Many victims of clergy intercourse abuse that happened throughout their childhoods have solely been in a position to search authorized recourse by way of civil instances slightly than felony fees.

Numerous states in recent times have opened particular “look back” home windows of their statutes of limitation for sexual assault and harassment. That transfer was prompted by the #MeToo motion, however it additionally benefited survivors of clergy intercourse abuse.