US ex-cardinal pleads not guilty to sexual assault

Theodore McCarrick, once a powerful Roman Catholic cardinal, pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecent assault and battery on Friday. McCarrick, now 91, is accused of molesting a 16-year-old boy more than 50 years ago at a wedding reception in Massachusetts.

"Shame on you!" protesters shouted as he entered the Boston courthouse.

His trial marks the first time any current or former US cardinal has been charged with a sex crime. Although the accusation goes back decades, McCarrick left Massachusetts shortly after the incident, thus stopping the clock on the statute of limitations.

McCarrick's alleged victim is being represented by Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer famous for helping dozens of victims abused by high-profile clerics as well as Pennsylvania State University football coach Jerry Sandusky.

"Today's arraignment provides hope for many clergy sex abuse victims and survivors that justice will prevail, truth will be told and children will be kept safe," Garabedian said.

"My client, in coming forward, has shown an enormous amount of courage, and he's ready to see this trial through the end," he added.

Highest-ranking church official ever defrocked

McCarrick was a prominent figure in the US Catholic Church. He was friendly with many politicians and known as a power broker within Washington.

His downfall came in 2018, when media outlets became aware of complaints against McCarrick not only in Massachusetts, but in New Jersey and New York as well.

He was removed as a cardinal, becoming the highest ranking church official in modern times to be defrocked. Pope Francis subsequently ordered an investigation into a supposed cover-up of McCarrick's wrongdoing by other bishops and priests in the northeastern US. The report found that the late Pope John Paul II had known of the allegations against McCarrick, but not believed them to be true.

es/msh (AP, Reuters)