Pope Francis responded for the first time to an accusation that has dogged his pontificate since last year, denying that he knew about former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick's history of sexual misconduct before it was revealed by a church investigation.
"I knew nothing about McCarrick, obviously, nothing, nothing," the pope said in an interview with Mexico's Televisa network, according to a transcript published Tuesday by an official Vatican news outlet, Vatican News. "I knew nothing about McCarrick, otherwise I wouldn't have remained silent, right?"
In February, Mr. McCarrick, an 88-year-old former archbishop of Washington, became the first cardinal in modern times to be dismissed from the priesthood after a Vatican trial found him guilty of sexual abuse of minors and sexual misconduct with adults.
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