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Proof That Rome Knew About McCarrick

A 2006 letter from a senior Vatican official to Father Ramsey vindicates core of Vigano testimony
Screen Shot 2018-07-25 at 1.58.30 PM

Excellent reporting by Robert Duncan in the Rome bureau of Catholic News Service produces an explosive story:

A top official from the Vatican Secretariat of State acknowledged allegations made by a New York priest in 2000 concerning Archbishop Theodore E. McCarrick, according to a letter obtained by Catholic News Service.

Father Boniface Ramsey, pastor of St. Joseph’s Church Yorkville in New York City, told CNS Sept. 7 that he received the letter dated Oct. 11, 2006, from then-Archbishop Leonardo Sandri, the former Vatican substitute for general affairs, asking for information regarding a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark who studied at Immaculate Conception Seminary and was being vetted for a post at a Vatican office. He made the letter available to CNS.

Then-Archbishop Sandri wrote to Father Ramsey, “I ask with particular reference to the serious matters involving some of the students of the Immaculate Conception Seminary, which in November 2000 you were good enough to bring confidentially to the attention of the then Apostolic Nuncio in the United States, the late Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo.”

Father Ramsey had been on the faculty of the seminary from 1986 to 1996 and had sent a letter in 2000 to Archbishop Montalvo informing him of complaints he heard from seminarians studying at the seminary, located in South Orange, New Jersey.

Read the whole thing.

So the Vatican has officially known for 18 years about Cardinal McCarrick’s molesting seminarians. We now have proof. Here’s the image:

This is the first documentary evidence to yet emerge vindicating Archbishop Vigano’s claim that Rome knew about McCarrick. Pope Francis’s “holy silence” strategy is now bankrupt. The gaslighting by Team Francis, claiming that the story was over, is now a laughingstock.

Pope Francis can no longer avoid addressing Vigano’s accusations. Journalists will be deluging Cardinal Sandri for comment. He can refuse them, but only at the cost of his credibility. Same with Pope Francis. There is no reason to be afraid of the truth. Is there?

UPDATE: It shouldn’t be necessary to tweet as MBD is doing. But it is, so I’m glad he’s doing it:

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

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