Disgraced ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick has been expelled from the Roman Catholic priesthood after an investigation found sex abuse allegations against him were credible, the Vatican said Saturday.
The church is penalizing McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Washington, D.C., and Newark, New Jersey, with "dismissal from the clerical state," it said in a statement.
He will not be able to appeal the decision.
The canonical investigation found that he was guilty of "sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power." He was also found guilty of "solicitation" during confession.
The commandment cited regards sexual behavior.
McCarrick became one of the highest-ranking Americans to be removed from public ministry amid the global scandal that has engulfed the church after he was publicly accused last year of sexually abusing two children decades ago, as well as coercing adult seminarians to sleep with him.
McCarrick did not immediately comment Saturday.
He has previously denied one of the allegations and is unlikely to face criminal charges as they are beyond the statute of limitations.
Pope Francis accepted his resignation from the College of Cardinals in July and ordered him to observe a life of prayer and penance in seclusion.
The scandal was prompted by a sexual abuse allegation involving a teenage altar boy from nearly 50 years ago in New York. At the time of the claim, McCarrick issued a statement saying he had “absolutely no recollection of this reported abuse" but that he was “sorry for the pain the person who brought the charges has gone through.”
After his removal, church officials in New Jersey revealed that the 88-year-old cardinal had also been accused of sexual misconduct by adults three times in the past. Two of those accusations resulted in secret settlements, officials said.
McCarrick has not commented on subsequent allegations, including from a man who said the cardinal, a family friend, had abused him starting when he was 11.
In October Francis authorized a "thorough study" of Vatican archives into how McCarrick advanced through church ranks despite allegations that he slept with seminarians and young priests.
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