VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has accepted US prelate Theodore McCarrick’s offer to resign from the College of Cardinals following allegations of sexual abuse, and ordered him to conduct a ‘‘life of prayer and penance’’ in a home to be designated by the pontiff until a church trial is held.
Francis acted swiftly after receiving McCarrick’s letter of resignation Friday evening, after recent weeks have brought a spate of allegations that the 88-year-old prelate had sexually abused both boys and adult seminarians. The revelations posed a test to the pontiff’s recently declared resolve to battle what he called a ‘‘culture of cover-up’’ of similar abuse in the Catholic’s church’s hierarchy.
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