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Cardinal O'Malley: 'No Place In Ministry For Someone Who Harms A Child'

VATICAN CITY (CBS/AP) - Two U.S. cardinals attending the Vatican's sex abuse prevention summit say the downfall of their onetime colleague Theodore McCarrick is sad but they hope a new spirit of accountability in the Catholic hierarchy will prevent future cover-ups of bishop misconduct.

Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley and Cardinal Blase Cupich of Chicago spoke at a news conference on the summit's second day, which was dedicated to accountability.

Pope Francis defrocked McCarrick last week after the Vatican found him guilty of sexually abusing minors and adults, including during confession. McCarrick's behavior has been described as an open secret in some Catholic circles in the U.S. and at the Vatican.

Read More: Cardinal O'Malley Calls For Accountability As McCarrick Is Defrocked

"The principle that was so clearly articulated by John Paul II – that there's no place in ministry for someone who harms a child – that has to be a line in the sand," O'Malley said during a news conference Friday.

Pope Francis is hosting a four-day summit on preventing clergy sexual abuse, a high-stakes meeting designed to impress on Catholic bishops around the world that the problem is global and that there are consequences if they cover it up.

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Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston attends the Vatican's summit on sexual abuse by clergy. (CBS photo)

"I would hope that any bishop who is aware of this kind of misbehavior would certainly make that known to the Holy See and not feel that, in any way, we should try to cover it up or turn a blind eye to it today. Transparency is what the way forward is about. We really have to be able to confront our sinfulness and to deal with it, not to ignore it or sweep it under the carpet," said O'Malley.

He said he believed that by making mistakes in its handling of clerical sex abuse cases, the church has revictimized people and caused young people to lose their confidence in the church.

"We believe there is a moral obligation to share this information with the civil authorities for the safety of children," O'Malley said of U.S. churches. "I think the terrible crisis that we have experienced in the United States is precisely because, for so long, these crimes were not being reported. So reporting, to me, is a big part of the way forward for the protection of children."

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Pope Francis is holding a Vatican summit to discuss the prevention of sexual abuse by clergy. (CBS photo)

O'Malley had earned a reputation for cleaning up churches hit by scandal, such as those in Fall River and Palm Beach, Fla., when he became the Archbishop of Boston in 2003, after Cardinal Bernard Law had resigned in the wake of the church sexual abuse scandal in the city.

Since then, O'Malley has adopted a zero-tolerance policy regarding sexual abuse in the church and, in 2011, released the names of most priests who had been accused of sexual abuse.

"In my way of thinking, there is nothing more urgent for the church to do than to come together and to be able to come up with a way to address what is the most important part of our mission at this point in history – the protection of children – and to redress the crimes, the suffering, the betrayals that have been inflicted on so many children and vulnerable adults," O'Malley said.

O'Malley said Friday he expected the Vatican and U.S. dioceses investigating McCarrick's rise through the church would soon release the findings from their investigations.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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