A retired priest of the Diocese of Arlington, who for seven years oversaw the diocese’s program on protecting minors from clerical sexual abuse, was indicted shortly before Christmas on two counts of sexually abusing a minor.
Pope Francis has dismissed from the priesthood Robert McWilliams, a Cleveland man who is serving a life sentence in prison for sexually exploiting children.
Cardinal O’Malley said polarization and opposition to Pope Francis includes some prelates in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, but he did not name anyone.
Pope Francis revealed for the first time that the archbishop had given “small caresses and massages” to his secretary, which “was a sin” but “not the gravest of sins.”
The case came as an unhappy shock to Catholics all over the United States who might have hoped that years of procedural changes would have put an end to the ordination of priests like the Rev. Robert McWilliams.