Page 86 - Time Magazine, Sep. 17, 2018

TheBrief News

GOOD QUESTION cover for” McCarrick—which he says means
Why is an Archbishop the Pope should step down.
NEWS calling for Pope Francis But the letter also includes a screed
TICKER against homosexuality and can be read as a
to resign? personal attack on Francis. Specifically, it
Upset in Mass. connects sex abuse in the church to the Pon-
Democratic A SCATHING LETTER ATTACKING POPE tiff’s more accepting position toward gay
primary Francis over claims that he covered up al- Catholics. That stand offends conservatives
legations of sexual abuse by a high-profile like Viganò, whom Francis removed in 2016
Adding to the sea-
son’s list of political American Cardinal has brought into focus as the Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S.
surprises, Ayanna a crisis in the Catholic Church. The 11-page “The document is a start for those who
Pressley beat 10-term text by noted conservative Archbishop Carlo want to raise questions,” says Massimo Fag-
incumbent Michael Maria Viganò accuses Francis of covering up gioli, a theology and religious-studies profes-
Capuano in a Sept. 5 sexual-abuse allegations against ex-Cardinal sor at Villanova University, “but it contains
Democratic primary for
Massachusetts’ 7th Theodore McCarrick, and calls for Francis to no answers.”
congressional district. resign over the matter. This isn’t the first time Viganò, 77, has
With no Republican The letter—dated Aug. 22, mere weeks taken issue with Francis’ leadership. In 2015,
on the ballot, she’ll after a damning report from a Pennsylva- he caused a dustup by arranging for Kim
likely be the first black nia grand jury found that at least 300 priests Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to
woman elected to Con-
gress from her state. abused more than 1,000 victims—has sown issue marriage licenses for gay couples, to
division among leaders of the Catholic Church meet the Pope. Viganò has also been accused
in the U.S. Francis, who faced a chilly welcome of his own cover-up; he denies allegations
on his late-August trip to Ireland in light of that he tried to stop an investigation of a for-
Russians
named in U.K. decades of abuse scandals there, now must mer Archbishop of St. Paul–Minneapolis who
spy poisoning reckon with high-ranking church figures com- was accused of sexual misconduct.
ing out openly against him. It’s a rare scene of Conservative U.S. bishops have voiced
British Prime Minister public discord among Catholic leaders and a their support for Viganò since the letter was
Theresa May said window into fissures within the church. published; the Pope’s defenders dispute its
on Sept. 5 that two McCarrick, the powerful head of the details.
Russian intelligence Archdiocese of Washington, stepped down As for Francis, he has declined to address
officers were behind
the attempted murder after an investigation concluded that claims the letter. Aboard his papal plane on Aug. 26,
of ex-spy Sergei he sexually abused a teenage altar boy were he said that he’d read it and that it “speaks
Skripal with the credible. Francis accepted McCarrick’s res- for itself.” Reporters, he said, could judge
banned nerve agent ignation in July and ordered him to a “life of the claims in the letter for themselves. “It’s
Novichok in the U.K. in prayer and penance.” But Viganò says he in- an act of trust,” he said. “I won’t say a word
March. May said their
mission was almost formed Francis of McCarrick’s behavior back about it.”
certainly approved “at in 2013. The Pope, he alleges, “continued to —MAHITA GAJANAN AND GINA MARTINEZ
a senior level” of the
Russian state.

White House WILDLIFE
lawyer to leave Stray animals
his post A mysterious kangaroo has baffled officials in Austria (yes, the European country) following
sightings in early September. Here, other creatures that roamed far from home. —Billy Perrigo
The latest Trump
Administration
departure is Don SIGHTSEEING BARNSTORMING WAYFARING WHALE
McGahn. The President SUNFISH BOOBY In 2006, an 18-ft.
said in an Aug. 29 In August, fishermen Bird watchers had bottlenose whale
tweet that the White in Scotland reported their feathers ruffled swam up the River
House counsel, who two sightings in August when a Thames in London
has cooperated with of sunfish. The brown booby landed after apparently
Robert Mueller’s gigantic bony fish, on Onota Lake in venturing far from its
investigation into the the heaviest in the Massachusetts, home in the North
2016 election, will world, normally live some 1,500 miles Atlantic. Despite a
leave the job this fall, in tropical waters from its native rescue attempt, it
after Supreme Court but can drift far on Gulf of Mexico and died on the way back
confirmation hearings ocean currents. Caribbean. to deeper water.
for Brett Kavanaugh.

10 TIME September 17, 2018