Archbishop Vigano now says Pope Benedict made the sanctions private, perhaps “due to the fact that [Archbishop McCarrick] was already retired, maybe due to the fact that [Pope Benedict] was thinking he was ready to obey.”

A Vatican source said: “The archbishop seems to have declared open war on Pope Francis and the Vatican.”

Washington Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl asked the priests in his archdiocese to accept his "contrition for any suffering I have caused, as well as the grace to find, with you, ways of healing, ways of offering fruitful guidance in this darkness."

The congregation chided me to sit down.“This is Mass!” I was told. “It’s not the time.”

More committees are not the answer to stop the abuse of children and vulnerable adults by clergy, said an Aug. 28 statement by the National Review Board, which is charged with addressing clerical sexual misconduct in the Catholic Church.