The news that the Holy See will publish the results of the internal investigation of files related to former cardinal Theodore McCarrick is welcome indeed. Cardinal Seán O’Malley informed the American bishops at their annual fall meeting that “[t]he intention is to publish the Holy See’s response soon, if not before Christmas, soon in the New Year.”
Recall that in October 2018, the Vatican announced that it would “in due course, make known the conclusions of the matter regarding Archbishop McCarrick. Moreover, with reference to other accusations brought against Archbishop McCarrick, the Holy Father has decided that information gathered during the preliminary investigation be combined with a further thorough study of the entire documentation present in the Archives of the Dicasteries and Offices of the Holy See regarding the former Cardinal McCarrick, in order to ascertain all the relevant facts, to place them in their historical context and to evaluate them objectively.”
The McCarrick case hangs over the Church like a poisonous cloud. When O’Malley was in Rome in October for the Ad Limina visit of the New England bishops, he told the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Parolin, that the Church in America wants to know how McCarrick “could become an archbishop and cardinal, who knew what and when.”
As to the more than yearlong process, O’Malley commented: “The long wait has resulted in great frustration on the part of bishops and our people and, indeed, a harsh and even cynical interpretation of the seeming silence.”
Propers to him for prompting the Holy See to act. He told the National Catholic Register that “he was shown a ‘hefty document’ which is being translated into Italian for a presentation to Pope Francis, with intended publication by early 2020.”
Read more at The Catholic Thing