Vatican’s McCarrick report forces debate on power and abuse

ROME (AP) — The Vatican’s report into ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick has raised uncomfortable issues the Holy See will have to confront going forward, chief among them what it will do about current and future clergy who use their power to sexually abuse adults.

McCarrick was only investigated and defrocked by Pope Francis because a former altar boy came forward to report the prelate had groped him when he was a teenager in the 1970s.

The bulk of the Vatican’s study of the McCarrick scandal released Tuesday dealt with the cardinal’s behavior with young men — seminarians whose careers he controlled and who felt powerless to say no to him.

Some say the Vatican needs to revisit how the church protects them, too.