Ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick found unfit for sex abuse trial

August 30, 2023

The criminal case accusing former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of molesting a 16-year-old boy nearly 50 years ago was tossed Wednesday by a Massachusetts judge, who found the disgraced Roman Catholic leader unfit for trial because of dementia.

Dedham District Court Judge Paul McCallum dismissed the case after McCarrick’s lawyers presented findings from a professor of psychiatry and behavior science that their client has dementia that was likely caused by Alzheimer’s disease.

Psychologist Kerry Nelligan, put on the stand Wednesday by prosecutors, agreed that the 93-year-old wasn’t fit to stand trial due to “severe cognitive declines.”

McCarrick — the only cardinal in the US to be criminally charged for child sex abuse — had been facing three counts of indecent assault and battery in a case stemming from 1974. He had pleaded not guilty in September 2021.

The accused predatory priest — who lives in Missouri — groped the boy’s genitals during the wedding reception for the teen’s brother at Wellesley College, prosecutors alleged.

Theodore McCarrick appearing in court by video. — Disgraced former Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was found unfit for trial because of his dementia, Wednesday.

Massachusetts Judge Paul McCallum dismissed the criminal case against McCarrick Wednesday after testimony from experts that the former cleric had dementia and cognitive decline.

The former Archbishop of Newark and Washington DC — who was booted from the priesthood over the sexual abuse allegations — also faces a criminal case in Wisconsin and lawsuits brought by other men who claimed they were abused as kids between the 1970s and 1990s.

The statute of limitations prevented criminal charges from being brought alongside the civil cases.

The Vatican admitted that Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II knew about sexual abuse claims against McCarrick for years but didn’t intervene, with John Paul even promoting the accused creep.

Pope Francis reaching to hug McCarrick. — McCarrick was criminally charged with sexually abusing a 16-year-old boy in 1974.

Theodore McCarrick — McCarrick is also criminally charged in Wisconsin and he faces a slew of lawsuits by men who claim he sexually abused them.

New York Archbishop Timothy Cardinal Dolan was the one who launched a probe into McCarrick by the review board of the Archdiocese of New York — which found the allegations to be “credible and substantial.”

Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick in 2019 after Vatican officials found him guilty of seeking out sex while hearing confessions from minors and adults.

The Wisconsin case is still pending, with a hearing set for Sept. 18.

McCarrick hasn’t yet entered a plea in that case.

With Post wires