US ex-cardinal dismissed by Vatican for sexual abuse

Pope Francis has defrocked a former cardinal in a first for the Catholic Church over accusations American Theodore McCarrick sexually abused a teenager 50 years ago, a Vatican statement said Saturday.

The church is penalizing McCarrick, the former Archbishop of Washington, with "dismissal from the clerical state," it said in a statement.

He will not be able to appeal the decision.

McCarrick, 88, who resigned from the Vatican's College of Cardinals in July, is the first cardinal ever to be defrocked for sex abuse.

He was found guilty in January by a Vatican court for sexually abusing a teenager, a decision confirmed by the pope in February, with no further recourse, according to the statement.

The canonical investigation found that he was guilty of "sins against the Sixth Commandment with minors and with adults, with the aggravating factor of the abuse of power." He was also found guilty of "solicitation" during confession.

McCarrick, former archbishop emeritus of Washington, was barred from practicing as a priest in July last year, after which he resigned his honorary title of cardinal.

McCarrick served the Washington diocese from 1981 to 1986. He now lives in a friary in Kansas. The latest punishment means he won't be allowed to celebrate Mass or other sacraments

The Vatican in 2017 asked the New York archbishopric to investigate the powerful cardinal after a man accused McCarrick of having abused him in the 1970s.

McCarrick was known for having sex with adult seminarians before he was accused of sexually abusing at least one teenager.

Prosecutors in the US state of Pennsylvania last year found 300 priests were involved in child sexual abuse since the 1940s, crimes that were covered up by a string of bishops.

Prosecutors in half a dozen other US states have announced plans for similar investigations.