Tom McLaughlin: Roman cover-up

Pope Francis’ big sex summit is over, and the reviews are coming in. National Review’s Michael Brendan Dougherty says: “The pope’s summit is trash and a cover-up.” The National Catholic Register described a quintessential question asked by a reporter: “At the press conference on Feb. 22, longtime CNN Vatican reporter Delia Gallagher pointed out to Cardinal Cupich of Chicago and Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston that in 2002 the American cardinals were in Rome working to implement a zero-tolerance policy, and the main figure in that was then-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. Why, she asked, should the American people trust them again?”

Why indeed? Gallagher didn’t get an answer. She got the runaround, and so did faithful Catholics the world over. Cardinal Cupich was appointed a cardinal by Pope Francis on the recommendation of the now-disgraced former Cardinal McCarrick, then designated by Francis as coordinator of this newest cover-up of deviant sexual escapades by clergy at all levels, not just priests. As expected, Cupich dodged Gallagher’s question with still more nebulous platitudes just like McCarrick used 17 years ago.