A Tale of Two Bishops: Canonical Conumdrums

Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. He is the fairly recently retired Archbishop of Washington, D.C. He may also be in some very hot water. Former Dominican Richard Sipe has written a public letter to Pope Benedict XVI detailing numerous sexual improprieties perpetrated by McCarrick over the years. I first heard about this on Relevant Radio, a Catholic radio network. The host said he knows McCarrick and is aware that there have always been questions about the numerous visits by seminarians to McCarrick's vacation home. My guess is that McCarrick knew that the allegations were coming and made sure to remain in the background during Pope Benedict's recent visit to the U.S. To see Sipe's statement, go to: http://www.richardsipe.com/Docs_and_Controversy/Statement-to-Pope.html

And what about Bishop Fernando Lugo of Paraguay? He was recently elected as president of the country. He has asked the Vatican to remove him from the state of being a bishop. This creates a canonical conumdrum. As a priest, he is forbidden to run for public office. The Vatican can laicize priests. However, while the Vatican can take away the authority of a bishop to serve as leader of a diocese, it cannot canonically remove him from the "state" of being a bishop. Even if the Vatican were to excommunicate Lugo, he would still be a bishop. He could still ordain priests.

It will be very interesting to see how the Vatican will handle these situations. Being that they will be addressed in the Vatican's timeline, don't expect anything right away.