Men 'sexually assaulted by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick' say they are 'crushed' Pope John Paul II knew of abuse but did not stop it and urge the church to remove him from calendar of saints

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's alleged victims say they are 'crushed' Pope John Paul II knew of his abuse but did not stop it and have urged the church to remove him from calendar of saints.

John Bellocchio, from New Jersey, has sued both McCarrick and the Holy See, alleging the prelate abused him in the 1990s when he was a teenager. McCarrick, 90, was defrocked by Pope Francis last year after decades of allegations that the globe-trotting envoy had sexually molested adults as well as children.

The Vatican took the extraordinary step Tuesday of publishing its two-year, 400-plus-page internal investigation into the prelate's rise and fall. It details how McCarrick often shared a bed at his New Jersey home with teenagers he made call him 'uncle Ted' and puts the lion's share of blame on a dead saint: Pope John Paul II.  

Bellocchio said: 'It was very emotional to read. It was very emotional because there were so many opportunities to stop him. So many opportunities to stop him. And maybe my life would be different, maybe I wouldn't be a victim if someone had.'

He said Francis should consider removing John Paul II from the calendar of saints. As pontiff, John Paul appointed McCarrick archbishop of Washington, D.C., in 2000, despite having commissioned an inquiry that confirmed he slept with seminarians, according to the report. A year later he elevated him to a cardinal. 

Geoffrey Downs, who in a lawsuit filed in New Jersey accused McCarrick of abusing him when he was a teenager and serving as an altar boy, said of the report: 'It's crushing. It's just crushing to those of us who went through it because you realize how small and incidental you are to these creatures, predators. 

'You're almost like a small nut and bolt in this giant machine of predatory behavior.' 

Pope Francis, in his first public comment after the release of the explosive report, said Wednesday: 'I renew my closeness to the victims of every abuse and the commitment of the Church to uproot this evil.'

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James Grein, 61, pictured left in 2019, came forward publicly in 2018 to disclose that McCarrick had abused him for about two decades, starting when he was a child. John Bellocchio, pictured right in 2019, sued both McCarrick and the Holy See, alleging the prelate abused him in the 1990s when he was a teenager

Pope John Paul II, left, knew of the extensive sex abuse allegations against American cardinal Theodore McCarrick, right, but still promoted him to archbishop in Washington DC, a Vatican investigation has found. The two men are pictured in 2001 

In interviews with The Associated Press, alleged victims demanded that the Vatican institute changes to ensure nothing like what was described in Tuesday's extraordinary report can happen again.

Spanning 449 pages, the internal investigation found that bishops, cardinals and popes downplayed or dismissed multiple reports of sexual misconduct by the now-90-year-old McCarrick, who as one of the highest-ranking, most visible Roman Catholic officials in the U.S. traveled the world and hobnobbed with presidents.

Disturbing testimony in the report details how McCarrick called the teenagers who were studying to become priests his 'nephews'. 

One describes feeling 'frozen and trapped'; another described being 'ensnared and could feel that McCarrick was sexually aroused'. A third said he was 'conflicted, confused and afraid' after sexual activity at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. 

President Bill Clinton presents Archbishop Theodore Edgar McCarrick of Newark, N.J. with a 2000 Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights in 2000. McCarrick hobnobbed with world leaders and shone as a star fundraiser for the Church

President Bush, left, laughs with Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick Archbishop of Washington, D.C., center, and Chief Justice of the United States John Roberts, in 2005. A new report says the U.S. Church hierarchy was aware of abuse claims but still promoted McCarrick to archbishop of Washington D.C, one of the most prestigious posts in the U.S. Church, in 2000

In this Oct. 12, 1988 file photo, President Ronald Reagan, center, and Newark Archbishop Theodore McCarrick, right, attend a Republican party campaign stop in West Orange, N.J

Timeline of Cardinal McCarrick's downfall 

1958: Ordained a priest in New York 

1977: Ordained as an auxiliary bishop 

1981: Installed as bishop of Diocese of Metuchen, New Jersey

1984: Buys beach house where alleged abuse takes place 

1986: Installed as archbishop of Newark 

Late 1980s: Two seminary professors speak with superiors about McCarrick's behavior

1988: New Jersey man tells Pope John Paul II he was sexually abused by McCarrick 

1994: Further allegations of abuse surface

1995: He hosts Pope John Paul II

1999: Allegations are included in a letter from Cardinal O'Connor, then the Archbishop of New York

2000: appointed archbishop of Washington by Pope John Paul II 

2001: McCarrick is promoted to cardinal

2005: Settlements reached with a former seminary student who alleged abuse; remains a secret until 2018

2006: McCarrick retires from the Washington Archdiocese

2008: Private restrictions put in place by Pope Benedict XVI officials 

2018: McCarrick removed from ministry after credible allegation he sexually abused a child

2019: McCarrick is defrocked

2020: Vatican report is released 

McCarrick was defrocked by Pope Francis in 2019 after a separate Vatican investigation determined he sexually abused minors as well as adults. 

Francis changed course after a former altar boy came forward in 2017 alleging that McCarrick groped him when he was a teenager during preparations for Christmas Mass in 1971 and 1972 in New York.

The report says Pope Benedict XVI had decided against a canonical trial or sanction during his 2005 to 2013 tenure, in part because the Vatican's in-house legal code didn't provide ways to prosecute old cases of priests who slept with young men.

'Instead the decision was made to appeal to McCarrick's conscience and ecclesial spirit by indicating to him that he should maintain a lower profile and minimize travel for the good of the church,' the report said. 

An attorney for McCarrick, who now lives as a layman in a residence for priests, declined to comment on the report. McCarrick has previously said he has no recollection of child abuse and has not commented publicly on allegations of misconduct with adults.

The report, released Tuesday, detailed the alarm bells that were ignored, excused or dismissed in 1992-93 when six anonymous letters were sent to U.S. church officials and the Vatican's ambassador to the U.S., alleging McCarrick was a 'pedophile' who would sleep in the same bed with young men and boys. 

It contained heartbreaking testimony about McCarrick´s inappropriate behavior, including from a woman identified only as 'Mother 1' who told Vatican investigators she also sent anonymous letters in the 1980s when McCarrick was bishop in Metuchen, New Jersey, after she saw McCarrick 'massaging (her two sons´) inner thighs' at her home.

Both Bellocchio and Downs suggested the church create lay review boards as a way to give parishoners an actionable role in holding priests accountable. 

Michael Reading, an inactive priest who has said McCarrick harassed him and touched him inappropriately without his consent when he was a seminarian, said the report angered and saddened him but also helped him realize he was not alone in his suffering.

Reading said he was glad the Vatican had done the investigation. He hoped it was a sign that the church was headed to a new era of accountability, but he said he still felt a degree of skepticism.

'The church takes hundreds of years to change,' he said. 

James Grein, a Virginia man who came forward publicly in 2018 to disclose that McCarrick had abused him for about two decades, starting when he was a child, said the report's release marked a 'powerful day' for both him and other survivors of clergy sexual abuse. 

But he and his attorney, Mitchell Garabedian, said there was more to be done. 

Garabedian - known for his work representing survivors of Catholic clergy sex abuse, including those who took part in a 2002 settlement with the Boston Archdiocese - called for an investigation by law enforcement about why what he called a cover-up went on for decades. 

Grein, who has filed lawsuits in both New York and New Jersey over the abuse allegations, said he wants an apology from the church. He said the abuse had taken an immense toll on his life, describing suicidal thoughts, feelings of post-traumatic stress, and a decades-long struggle with drugs and alcohol.

'How they could ever repair my damage, I don´t know,' Grein said.

McCarrick is said to have 'shared a bed with young adult men in the Bishop's residence in Metuchen and Newark' and 'shared a bed with adult seminarians at this beach house on the New Jersey shore'

Grein holds a Florida postcard sent to him when he was 15 years old by now-defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick

John Bellocchio, of New Jersey, has sued both former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick and the Holy See, alleging the prelate abused him in the 1990s when he was a teenager

SNAP, a network representing survivors of sex abuse by clergy, said many more preventive steps need to be taken and that the crisis is an ongoing one, with transparency and accountability still lacking.

'This report contains no punishments, no concrete steps to prevent future crimes, and consequently gives us no faith that this investigation was conducted in earnest,' the group said in a statement.

SNAP and another organization that represents survivors, Ending Clergy Abuse, called on President-elect Joe Biden, a practicing Catholic, to assist their efforts.

In an open letter to Biden, released Tuesday, the groups requested a say in the selection of the next U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, as well as a commitment from Biden to convene a task force designed to investigate institutional sexual abuse and eliminate inconsistencies in states´ handling of the issue.

They also asked Biden to urge the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to release the names of all known sex offender clerics and their files at its national meeting next week.

The Conference's president, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez, described the McCarrick scandal as 'another tragic chapter in the Church´s long struggle to confront the crimes of sexual abuse by clergy.'

'To McCarrick´s victims and their families, and to every victim-survivor of sexual abuse by the clergy, I express my profound sorrow and deepest apologies,' Gomez said. 'This report underscores the need for us to repent and grow in our commitment to serve the people of God.'  

McCarrick, pictured in 2000, said he had no recollection of child abuse and has not commented publicly on allegations of misconduct with adults. Now aged 90, he is living in isolation

Pope Francis greets U.S. Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican in 2014. McCarrick, 90, was defrocked by Francis last year after decades of allegations that the globe-trotting envoy had sexually molested adults as well as children