Anti-Abuse Group Says ‘Many More McCarricks’ Must Be Defrocked

You are not signed in as a Premium user; we rely on Premium users to support our news reporting. Sign in or Sign up today!

ROME (Thomas D. Williams) - A group devoted to rooting out clergy sex abuse has called for the defrocking of more bishops in the wake of the laicization of former cardinal Theodore McCarrick this week.

At a press conference in Rome Sunday, Anne Barrett Doyle, co-president of Bishop Accountability, said there are "many more McCarricks" and urged the laicization of five bishops whom the group believes to be guilty of punishable offenses concerning sex abuse.

Specifically, Barrett Doyle mentioned two Americans — Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Bishop Joseph Hart of Cheyenne, Wyoming, as well as three others: Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron of Agaña, Guam; Bishop Aldo di Cillo Pagotto of Paraiba, Brazil; and Bishop Roger Joseph Vangheluwe of Bruges, Belgium.

These bishops have already been dismissed from their former posts but should be dismissed from the clerical state as well, Barrett Doyle said.

"It is an insult to the Catholics of the world to hold forth McCarrick's laicization as accountability," she said. "We are past the stage of confusing a fired bishop as accountability. We haven't even begun yet."

During the press conference, Barrett Doyle spelled out why Bishop Accountability believes that the five bishops should be defrocked.

Read the rest at Breitbart.

Have a news tip? Submit news to our tip line.

We rely on you to support our news reporting. Please donate today.