Papal Scapegoating

You are not signed in as a Premium user; you are viewing the free version of this program. Premium users have access to full-length programs with limited commercials and receive a 10% discount in the store! Sign up for only one day for the low cost of $1.99. Click the button below.

See All Plans

The claims that Pope St. John Paul II was to blame for McCarrick's scandalous rise to power is ignoring the saintly pontiff's extremely poor health — coupled with the nefarious roles of those around him.

Church Militant is reporting that anti-Viganò forces in the Vatican are combing through John Paul II's personal correspondence with his long-time friend of 32 years, the late Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka, a Polish-born American philosopher. Her letters are thought to contain many sympathetic references to McCarrick, who used her to obtain a favorable hearing with the Holy Father.

The false narrative then becomes that Tymieniecka clouded John Paul's judgment, resulting in him promoting McCarrick in spite of clearly knowing that McCarrick was a homosexual predator. This narrative may well be supported by John Paul II's personal secretary, then-Msgr. Stanisław Dziwisz. This narrative would then claim that Pope Francis was simply following the course with McCarrick as set by his esteemed predecessor.

This narrative ignores the fact that John Paul II was diagnosed in the early 1990s with Parkinson's disease, which had taken its toll on him by the year 2000 when McCarrick was appointed as the archbishop of Washington. It further ignores the fact that it was then-Bp. Dziwisz who, on McCarrick's behalf, not only called Washington's nuncio, then-Abp. Gabriel Montalvo, in D.C, but also personally contacted the Congregation for Bishops in Rome.

Church Militant has confirmed that in the run-up to McCarrick's transfer from Newark to D.C., it was Dziwisz who picked up the telephone to tell the prefect of Bishops, then-Abp. Giovanni Battista Re, that "It would please the Holy Father" if McCarrick were to be translated from Newark to Washington.

Most importantly, however, this narrative, which speculates on what John Paul II was told about McCarrick's sinful past, ignores the fact that there is no doubt that Pope Francis was told in no uncertain terms, and revived his career anyway.

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

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