Pope Francis 'won't say a word' about letter calling for his resignation

On Sunday, Pope Francis told journalists to decide on their own whether there is any truth to former Vatican official Carlo Maria Vigano's claim that Francis knew in 2013 about allegations of sexual misconduct against Theodore McCarrick, a cardinal who resigned in July.

"It's an act of trust," he said. "I won't say a word about it." Vigano's document "speaks for itself," he added. In an 11-page letter published Saturday, Vigano, the former Vatican ambassador to the United States, said he told Pope Francis there was a "dossier this thick" about McCarrick and seminarians, further alleging that McCarrick "corrupted generations of seminarians and priests, and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance." In his letter, the conservative Vigano, who has semi-publicly clashed with Pope Francis before, also called for the pope to resign.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.