CARDINAL SIN

Pope Francis’ U.S. Abuse Watchdog: Sorry, Complaint About DC Cardinal Was Lost in My Office

Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley said he would modify his office procedures.

The U.S. cardinal in charge of the Catholic Church’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors apologized late Monday for never responding to a 2015 letter that raised questions about the behavior of Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, the former archbishop of Washington, D.C. Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley said he is responsible “for the procedures followed in my office, and I also am prepared to modify those procedures in light of this experience.” He apologized to Rev. Boniface Ramsey, who penned the letter, and others “for not having responded to him in an appropriate way.” O’Malley said he did not see the letter about McCarrick, who was removed from public ministry in June after being accused of sexually abusing a minor and seminarians, because the complaint was handled by a staffer. The staffer told Ramsey the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors typically does not handle individual cases. Ramsey told CBS News on Tuesday that he had repeatedly complained about McCarrick. “I had the impression that virtually everyone knew about it,” Ramsey said. “Archbishop McCarrick was inviting seminarians to his beach house.… There were five beds… and there were six people. Archbishop McCarrick arranged it in such a way that somebody would join him in his bed.”