JUDY WOODRUFF: Even with all that's been known about the Catholic Church's sexual abuse scandals,
today's revelations about the historical role of Pope John Paul II in the elevation of a
former archbishop accused of sexual abuse was stunning. A report from the Vatican found
two popes either ignored, overlooked, or downplayed allegations when it came to taking tough action
against Theodore McCarrick over two decades. Amna Nawaz has the story. AMNA NAWAZ: Judy,
the 449-page report found that, before John Paul II elevated Theodore McCarrick to archbishop
of Washington, he already was aware of multiple allegations against McCarrick. That included
reports of sexual misconduct with another priest, sharing beds with seminarians, and
anonymous letters accusing him of pedophilia with his nephews. But McCarrick denied those
allegations, and he rose to become one of the most powerful and well-known Catholic
leaders in the United States. The investigation also found that Pope Benedict delayed an investigation
into McCarrick's behavior, and that Pope Francis also did not act on allegations about McCarrick
until 2017, believing that Pope John Paul II had already reviewed them. McCarrick was
removed as archbishop in 2006, but was not defrocked -- that is to say, removed from
the church -- until 2019. Elizabeth Bruenig is an opinion writer for The New York Times
who writes about faith and religion. She has long covered the McCarrick story, including
speaking with survivors. And she joins us now. Elizabeth, welcome to the "NewsHour."
We should say, as we have learned more and more about the depths of this abuse scandal,
the questions have always been, who knew and when did they know? And this report seems
to say, everyone knew. The men at the highest levels knew, and they knew for years. Is that
accurate? ELIZABETH BRUENIG, The New York Times: That's accurate. At least as early
as the 1990s, there was widespread awareness in the hierarchy that these allegations had
been made and that they were continuing to be made over time. AMNA NAWAZ: And what have
we learned about any kind of common thread? As we just noted, three different popes knew
about the allegations. One sort of believed McCarrick's denials over the allegations.
The other chose not to look into it. Is there a common thread in that behavior? ELIZABETH
BRUENIG: McCarrick was very charismatic, and he was extremely winning. And he was also
a very gifted fund-raiser who made lots of monetary gifts to other members of the church
hierarchy. And the common thread in all of the authorities who failed to accurately investigate
or adequately look into the allegations against McCarrick is that they trusted him, they believed
him, and they saw no reason to deal with what they assumed to be conduct that only involved
other adults and, in many cases, conduct they presumed to be long in the past. AMNA NAWAZ:
So, as we have mentioned, you have reported on some of the survivors before. Have you
spoken with them today? And what's been their reaction to the report? ELIZABETH BRUENIG:
I have, yes. One of the survivors that I spoke to who was abused by McCarrick as a child,
as a minor, is exhausted by this episode. The McCarrick saga has stretched on now since
2017. So, if you can imagine three years of media inquiry, and then church inquiries of
different stripes into what happened to this individual, I think it's easy to understand
why he's completely exhausted at this point. AMNA NAWAZ: What kind of impact does this
have more broadly in the Catholic community? We talk about these issues of trust and faith.
The idea that church leaders knew for years and didn't do anything, what kind of impact
can a report like this have? ELIZABETH BRUENIG: It has seriously damaged the moral credibility
of the Roman Catholic Church. The fact that the sex abuse crisis is still ongoing at this
point in time, when we first learned about it in 2002, I think is a serious, serious
problem that compromises the church's ability to speak out on moral matters. And I think
it's going to really put a shroud over the papacy of Pope Francis. AMNA NAWAZ: What do
you mean by that, specifically with Pope Francis? ELIZABETH BRUENIG: Well, Pope Francis commissioned
this report. And I think that was an effort to try to preserve some credibility by making
a real effort towards transparency. And this is a real effort towards transparency. An
investigation like this hasn't been conducted before, not that's been publicized, certainly
not by a layperson. This was conducted by a layperson. But Pope Francis presumed that
his predecessors had dealt with McCarrick. And he wasn't, it appears, going to look into
the matter again, until the allegations came forward from the Archdiocese of New York.
And at that point, he began reviewing things. But the fact that he didn't take action before
then is disturbing. AMNA NAWAZ: Elizabeth, a lot of people are asking, what now? I mean,
for example, the American bishops are going to hold their annual meeting in a couple of
weeks. Everyone says they welcome this level of transparency. Do you believe the steps
are being taken within the church to make sure this doesn't happen any longer? ELIZABETH
BRUENIG: Well, with so little transparency as it is, it's hard to place a lot of faith
in those kinds of steps and pronouncements that things are much better now. I think this
report is a landmark. And I hope it's a turning point. There are several things the church
could do to try to assure this doesn't happen again. There needs to be more oversight from
laypeople. There need to be ways to report bishops that result in transparent processes
of accountability, not just priests. And until those kinds of monumental changes happen,
it's hard to see how these kinds of events will have really been forfended. AMNA NAWAZ:
That is Elizabeth Bruenig, opinion writer for The New York Times, joining us tonight.
Thank you so much for your time. ELIZABETH BRUENIG: Thank you.