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U.S. NEWS Monday 18 February 2019

In this Feb. 13, 2013 file photo, Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick poses during an interview with
the Associated Press, in Rome. In this Feb. 13, 2013 file photo, Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick U.S. immigration
poses during an interview with the Associated Press, in Rome.
Associated Press officials detain 2 bankers
McCarrick’s rise through church wanted in Ecuador

hierarchy began as altar boy By JENNIFER KAY

Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — For- soliciting sex while hearing after President Bill Clinton MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Two brothers from Ecuador
mer cardinal Theodore confession and of sexual had presented him with the wanted in the South American country on charges that
McCarrick’s rise through crimes against minors and Eleanor Roosevelt Award they stole millions of dollars from a now-defunct bank
the Catholic Church hier- adults. The move punctu- for Human Rights. have been detained in Florida by U.S. immigration
archy, during which he es- ated a stunning fall from The son of a ship captain authorities.
tablished a reputation as a grace for the 88-year-old, who died when McCar- William and Roberto Isaias were arrested Wednesday
globe-trotting human rights who was ordained as a rick was 3, the disgraced in Miami and detained pending deportation,
advocate before being priest in 1958, became a cleric attended Catholic Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman
brought down by sex abuse bishop in 1981 and was elementary school and Nestor Yglesias said in an email late Saturday.
scandals, began as an al- named Archbishop of New- Fordham Preparatory Ecuador’s government has sought the brothers’
tar boy in New York City. ark, New Jersey, in 1986. In School and was ordained extradition for years, but it was not clear what
McCarrick, who recently November 2000, he was after earning bachelor’s prompted their arrests. Yglesias only said the men were
became the highest-rank- tapped by Pope John Paul and master’s degrees at “unlawfully present” in the U.S.
ing cleric to be defrocked II to lead the Archdiocese St. Joseph’s Seminary in The bank, Filanbanco, was the largest in Ecuador,
by the Vatican, worked his of Washington. Yonkers, New York. He and its failure in the late 1990s contributed to an
way up over several de- “I wish I were a holier man, later earned a Ph.D. in so- economic collapse. The brothers were charged
cades to the highest circles more prayerful, more trust- ciology from The Catho- with embezzlement but fled the country before trial.
of church leadership, de- ing in God, wiser and cou- lic University of America in They were found guilty in absentia and sentenced
spite awareness among rageous,” The New York Washington, where he was to eight years in prison in 2012. The brothers’ deny
the hierarchy of his suspect Times quoted McCarrick given his first assignment the allegations and have been fighting for the return
behavior, including sleep- as saying upon his appoint- as assistant chaplain and of businesses and assets seized by the Ecuadoran
ing with adult seminarians. ment. “But here I am, with went on to serve as dean government. Their arrests were inconsistent with the
McCarrick’s past finally all my faults and all my of students and director of U.S. government’s treatment of their case thus far, the
caught up with him last needs, and we will work to- development. McCarrick brothers’ Miami-based spokesman, Freddy Balsera,
summer, when Pope Fran- gether.” That same month, later served as president told The Associated Press on Sunday. He noted that
cis removed him as a car- a New York priest, the of the Catholic University their extradition has been denied three times over
dinal after a U.S. church Rev. Boniface Ramsay, in- of Puerto Rico, personal the past two decades, under both Republican and
investigation determined formed the Vatican in a let- secretary to Cardinal Ter- Democratic administrations.
that an allegation that ter about McCarrick’s mis- ence Cooke and auxiliary “I don’t think this was targeted. We think this was just the
he had fondled a teen- conduct with seminarians bishop of New York. From way the current immigration policy is being applied,”
age altar boy in the 1970s from Seton Hall University’s 1986 through 2006, during Balsera said, adding that the brothers’ were seeking
was credible. The church Immaculate Conception his years as archbishop in release from detention and a review of their case.
also acknowledged that it Seminary. Ramsay, who Newark and Washington, He said the brothers were grateful to the U.S. for giving
had made previously un- was on the faculty at the McCarrick was one of the them refuge from the regime of former Ecuadoran
disclosed financial settle- seminary, has said he sent most influential church President Rafael Correa, who governed from 2007
ments with adults who ac- the letter at the request of leaders in the U.S. McCar- through 2017.
cused McCarrick of sexual the then-Vatican ambassa- rick, who speaks five lan- Roberto Isaias, 74, was arrested at his doctor’s office,
misconduct decades ago. dor because he had heard guages, twice headed the while William, 75, was arrested at home, Balsera said.
On Saturday, the Vatican so many complaints from U.S. Conference of Catho- Both men were being held at ICE’s Krome Detention
announced that McCar- students. Nevertheless, just lic Bishops’ Committee on Center outside Miami.
rick, known within church weeks after his formal in- Migration and traveled fre- The Ecuadoran government’s attorney in Miami did
circles as “Uncle Ted,” had stallation as archbishop, quently overseas on trips not respond to emails or a phone message left over
been defrocked after of- McCarrick was elevated to devoted to human rights the weekend.q
ficials found him guilty of the rank of cardinal, shortly and foreign policy.q