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Three sex abuse lawsuits filed against a New Jersey diocese and announced Thursday include claims that defrocked Cardinal Theodore McCarrick abused a young man in the 1980s.

Former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick pleaded not guilty Sept. 3 in a Massachusetts court, where he is facing three counts of sexually assaulting a teenager in the 1970s.

Former Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick pleaded not guilty Sept. 3 in a Massachusetts court, where he is facing three counts of sexually assaulting a teenager in the 1970s.

One month to the day that the Vatican released its report on since-laicized cardinal Theodore McCarrick, a panel of academics took a close look at what one called a "hyperclerical culture" that allowed McCarrick's sexual misconduct to go unchecked.

Cardinal-designate Wilton D. Gregory of Washington said the Vatican's report on former cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick is a "tragic chronicle" about that churchman's "unconscionable human violation."

The Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops has ordered an investigation into Bishop Oscar Cantu’s handling of allegations of clerical sexual abuse and misconduct. The investigation is being carried out under the provisions of Vos estis lux mundi.

News coverage of the Nov. 10 release of the Vatican's long-awaited report on how former cardinal Theodore McCarrick managed to rise through the ranks of the clergy, despite sexually predatory behavior that stretched back decades, differed depending on the source of the media.

The Vatican report on Theodore E. McCarrick's rise through the U.S. episcopal ranks should be a contemporary lesson in transparency for the entire church, said U.S. experts in church law.

The Vatican report on Theodore E. McCarrick highlights repeated failures in the process for vetting bishops, a process that often seemed more focused on personal connections and ensuring unquestioned adherence to doctrine than on raising red flags regarding inappropriate or criminal behavior.

A New York woman, called “Mother 1” in the report, describes how McCarrick groomed her family into trusting him and feeling special by receiving his kind and generous attention during the 1970s and ’80s. But she began to see the then-bishop as a threat when she caught him massaging her sons’ inner thighs in front of her husband, who seemed, in her words, “oblivious to Ted’s behavior.”

“Priest 3 stated that he was ‘disappointed’ by Vigano’s failure to respond, and that he ‘felt that the nuncio was not paying attention to something that to me was very important,” the report said.

Although dogged for years by rumors of sexual impropriety, Theodore E. McCarrick was able to rise up the Catholic hierarchical structure based on personal contacts, protestations of his innocence and a lack of church officials reporting and investigating accusations, according to the Vatican summary of its report on the matter.

Prelates in the archdioceses and the diocese where Theodore McCarrick worked during his rise through the church’s hierarchical structure despite rumors of sexual impropriety welcomed a Vatican report regarding the onetime cardinal, saying it advances accountability and transparency regarding clergy sexual abuse within the church.

While the world is still digesting the McCarrick report, released by the Vatican on Tuesday, the blame game has begun in Poland.

According to a leading expert in the Catholic Church’s fight against clerical sexual abuse, the Vatican’s report into laicized ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick is “a good example of how seriously these whole questions of cover up and denial and non-compliance and insincerity should be dealt with,” and believes there are other similar reports to come.

US bishops react to the release of the McCarrick Report with sorrow, but also with gratitude for the important and ongoing process to eradicate clerical sex abuse, and promises to rebuild trust and earn the confidence of the faithful.

The Vatican Secretariat of State's report on Theodore E. McCarrick provides a glimpse into how a number of witnesses and victims of the former cardinal's abuse sought numerous ways to alert church officials and were disturbingly aware their allegations might trigger repercussions.

Our Sunday Visitor offers a helpful perspective on understanding the McCarrick Report.

The highly anticipated "McCarrick Report" came out today, and John Allen Jr., the Media Fellow for the Word on Fire Institute and Editor of Crux, offers some intial thoughts on it.