OH SHIT Pope Francis Covered Up Cardinal’s … Consensual Adult Gay Stuff? Oh. (Wonkette, more at the link).

Here are the basics, according to the letter published Saturday by former Papal Nuncio to the US Carlo Maria Viganò (a nuncio is like an ambassador, but all Churchy): Pope Francis and his predecessor, Pope Benedict, knew that Cardinal Theodore McCarrick [archdiocese of Washington DC] had been accused of having “shared his bed with seminarians,” as Viganò puts it so quaintly, for years. They were all adults, but like any sexual harassment, an archbishop summoning students to his beach house is hardly a consensual relationship. Last summer, when allegations surfaced that McCarrick had also abused two minors, Francis accepted his resignation as a Cardinal and suspended him from pastoral duties while his case is investigated by the Church (the statute of limitations on McCarrick’s alleged abuse of minors has passed, so no criminal charges).

Viganò accused the Vatican of covering up for McCarrick’s abuse of adult seminarians for too long, and says Benedict (he’s a big fan of Benedict) justly stripped him of clerical authority, sentencing him to a life of “penance and prayer” in 2009 or 2010, but then Francis tried to rehabilitate him by allowing him to lecture and go to conferences. Viganò also hints this was a reward for McCarrick’s help in getting Francis elected pope. The letter doesn’t suggest Francis had any knowledge of the allegations involving minors.