Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the
Roman Catholic archbishop of Washington under fire for alleged
inaction over clerical sex abuse, has sent a letter to his
priests saying he will discuss his resignation with Pope Francis
in Rome soon.
The news came as Francis on Wednesday called the world's
bishops' heads to a conference in the Vatican next February on
preventing clerical sex abuse.
Wuerl is one of the high-ranking clerics near Pope Francis
accused in a letter by former Washington nuncio Carlo Maria
Viganò.
Since mid-August, the former archbishop of Pittsburg Wuerl
has been at the center of heated debate calling for him to
resign after accounts of his allowing several priests accused of
sexually abusing children to remain in ministry.
The accounts were included in a grand jury report last month
in Pennsylvania that accused over 300 priests of abuse.
Alongside other US-based allies of the Pope, Wuerl has been
accused of covering up the sexual abuse of children committed by
his predecessor in the capital, Theodore McCarrick.
Close to both the former and the present popes, 77-year-old
Wuerl had offered to leave the ministry when he turned 75 due to
age limits but Pope Francis had opted to keep him in his
position.
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