Did Pope Francis know? Was he told, five years before the world found out, that the powerful Cardinal McCarrick was a serial sexual abuser? The diplomat who claims to have informed the pope, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, names two dates on which he raised the matter with Francis: June 23 and October 10, 2013. But the Holy Father, in a new interview with Valentina Alazraki, says he simply can't remember. "When [Viganò] says he spoke to me that day, he came ... I do not remember if he told me about this. If it is true or not. No idea."
This is not the only gap in the papal memory. Alazraki asked Francis about a February speech that described persistent critics of the Church as "relatives of the devil." The pope replied: "I do not remember the text but no, no. I do not feel that way." What about the headline-making 2014 phone call in which the pope allegedly encouraged a woman to ignore Church teaching on Communion and divorce? Also a blank: "What I said to that woman I do not remember."
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