Attorneys for former cardinal Theodore McCarrick say he is suffering "significant, worsening, and irreversible dementia," and claim he is "legally incompetent" to stand trial on sex abuse charges, according to the Catholic News Agency [CNA].
Their statement came in a motion filed in Dedham District Court in Massachusetts.
McCarrick, 92, pleaded not guilty in September 2021 to sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy during a wedding reception in Massachusetts about 50 years ago.
McCarrick was charged with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14.
A neurological examination was conducted in early December by Dr. David Schretlen, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, according to CNA.
The examination took place at a facility in Missouri where McCarrick is living.
McCarrick's fall began in 2017 when a former altar boy reported the priest had groped him when he was a teenager in New York. The next year, the Archdiocese of New York announced that McCarrick was removed from ministry after finding the allegation to be "credible and substantiated," and two New Jersey dioceses revealed they had settled claims of sexual misconduct against him in the past involving adults.
Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick in 2019 after a Vatican investigation determined he sexually abused minors, as well as adults.
CNA reported that a spokesman for the state of Massachusetts said that it wants an opportunity to examine McCarrick's competency to stand trial.
Schretlen's report said that McCarrick has a "severe cognitive disorder" and "everyday functional disability" that classifies as dementia, the news agency said. It is most likely due to Alzheimer's disease, the document said.
It added that his dementia is also "irreversible" and "likely to progress over time" with no expectation of improvement.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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