The Vatican investigates the suspicion that a cathedral in the United Kingdom was the scene of an orgy during the lockdown. According to the British newspaper Sunday Times, which revealed the case this Saturday (22), one of the priests of the diocese, Michael McCoy, would have invited faithful to a private party in his rooms during the pandemic, when churches interrupted most of their programming —and such gatherings were banned.
McCoy had been in charge of Newcastle Cathedral, in the northwest of the country, since 2019. He committed suicide in April 2021, aged 57, four days after learning that he was the subject of a police investigation for sexual abuse of minors.
Cases of abuse involving religious are recurrent, and Pope Francis has already expressed his indignation against abusers within the Catholic Church. Last year, he even announced measures to curb cases of sexual violence, such as a rule that obliges members of the clergy to report suspected sexual violence to ecclesiastical authorities. He also abolished the pontifical secrecy regarding cases of pedophilia.
The investigation carried out by the Catholic Church now takes place in the broader context of an investigation into the circumstances of the resignation of a bishop from the diocese to which the cathedral responds, of Hexham and Newcastle, last December.
The bishop in question, Robert Byrne, stepped down from the post he had directed since 2019 on the grounds that it had become “too heavy a burden”. Previously, he had served as an auxiliary in the Archdiocese of Birmingham in the west-central part of the country and was rector of the parish church of Oxford in the south-central part of the country between 1993 and 2011.
“My own discernment has led me to recognize that today I feel unable to continue to serve the public of this diocese as I would like,” he told worshipers at St Mary’s Cathedral in Newcastle in his speech announcing his resignation. There is no evidence that the bishop participated in the alleged party or that he was aware of it.
Leading the investigation is Liverpool Archbishop Malcolm McMahon, who also heads the diocese until Byrne’s successor is named. In a letter obtained by the Sunday Times, the archbishop says the pope’s advisers have asked him to prepare an in-depth report on events leading up to the bishop’s resignation.
The Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA) last week began a surprise audit of the diocese. Steve Ashley, executive director of the entity, said that the investigation will take into account any reports and allegations of abuse, and reinforced the agency is independent and has “complete autonomy”.
The diocese says it has voluntarily come forward to the CSSA and the Charity Commission and that it “will continue to work productively and expeditiously with both organizations and adapting where necessary based on facts and evidence provided, not rumors and misinformation.” “.
Organizing parties during the pandemic was one of the factors that led to the downfall of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The “partygate”, an episode in which serial leaks revealed parties at the government headquarters at the height of Covid, showed that the government held dozens of celebrations in the period, from Christmas parties to birthday parties – of the prime minister himself. Cabinet officials even held a convescote on the eve of Prince Philip’s (1921-2021) funeral, which later prompted an apology from Boris to Queen Elizabeth II.
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