Cardinal Pietro Parolin
Photo: TK KBS/ Peter Hric
Vatican Secretary of State
Dioceses/Religious Orders: Diocese of Vicenza
In the matter of Theodore McCarrick, Parolin, in his role as chief diplomat of the Vatican, facilitated McCarrick’s well-publicized diplomatic trips to China between 2013 and 2016, in violation of the restrictions placed upon the former cardinal, who lost his title and priesthood in 2019 after substantiated claims of widespread sexual abuse of adult seminarians and minors. In May and July of 2014, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò and Cardinal Marc Ouellet filed complaints with Parolin about McCarrick’s rehabilitation, which were ignored. The treatment of these complaints is representative of a larger pattern of Parolin ignoring allegations against McCarrick, all the while playing a role in the facilitation of his public rehabilitation and going so far as to solicit input on high-level governance decisions such as bishop appointments from McCarrick.
US-based watchdog Bishop Accountability called Parolin the “consummate secret-keeper,” drawing attention to cases of “obstruction of justice” in Chile, Britain, Poland, and Australia. As Secretary of State, Parolin is ultimately accountable for documents that have been withheld from civil investigations. Bishop Accountability specifically cited the four-year Australian Royal Commission that reported that at least 4,400 children were abused by 1,100 clerics. Under Parolin’s diplomatic leadership, the Vatican provided files on only two priests. According to the The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) in England and Wales, investigators had requested documents in 2018 and 2019 regarding sexual abuse in the English Benedictine Congregation, and Parolin refused to comply, claiming the Holy See did not have jurisdiction over institutions outside the Vatican.
As Secretary of State for the past twelve years, Parolin has had oversight over and knowledge of all abuse and cover-up allegations against prominent church officials, yet has collaborated with Pope Francis in the promotion of known transgressors - notably that of Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández to the post of Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, that of Cardinal Angelo Becciu to the post of Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and that of Cardinal Kevin Farrell to the posts of Prefect of the Dicastery of the Laity, Family, and Life and Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church.