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Iran warned Monday that reimposed U.S. sanctions would cripple its economy and plunge the volatile Middle East deeper into crisis as it urged the United Nations’ highest court to suspend the Trump administration’s economic pressure on Tehran.

In a written statement about the case at the International Court of Justice, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iran’s claims “meritless” and defended the sanctions as a way of keeping Americans safe.

The world court’s wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice in The Hague is the latest backdrop for Washington and Tehran’s high-stakes dispute about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

President Donald Trump said in May that he would pull the U.S. out of a 2015 agreement over Iran’s nuclear program and would reimpose sanctions on Tehran. Washington also threatened other countries with sanctions if they don’t cut off Iranian oil imports by early November.

Iran filed a case with the court in July challenging the reimposition. Tehran alleges that the sanctions breach a 1955 bilateral agreement known as the Treaty of Amity that regulates and promotes economic and consular ties between the two countries.

The treaty was signed when the U.S. and Iran were still allies following the 1953 revolution — fomented by Britain and the U.S. — that ultimately cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

However, diplomatic relations were severed following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and takeover of the U.S. Embassy and ensuing hostage crisis. Despite that dramatic deterioration in relations, the treaty remains in force.

Iran and the U.S. have a history of litigation at the International Court of Justice, in cases covering crises including the embassy seizure and the shooting down of an Iranian passenger jet mistaken by a U.S. warship for a fighter jet.

Rulings by the world court, which settles disputes between nations, are final and legally binding. However, it remains to be seen if the U.S. would abide by a court order to suspend sanctions on Iran.

‘Naked economic aggression’

At Monday’s hearings, Tehran asked judges to urgently order a suspension of the sanctions while the case challenging their legality is being heard — a process that can take years. A decision on the urgent request for a suspension is likely to take weeks.

Iranian representative Mohsen Mohebi told the court the U.S. sanctions are a clear breach of the 1955 treaty because they are “intended to damage, as severely as possible, Iran’s economy.” He called Trump’s sanctions policy “nothing but a naked economic aggression against my country.”

Mohebi also warned that the sanctions could exacerbate regional tensions.

His comments came a day after Iran’s defense minister said his country will continue its support of the Syrian government to ensure improved security in the region. Israel has expressed concern over Iran’s growing influence in Syria, accusing Tehran of seeking to establish a foothold near the frontier with the Jewish state. The United States has been pressing for Iran to withdraw its fighters from Syria.

2015 nuclear deal

Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, brokered when Barack Obama was still in the White House, imposed restrictions on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of most U.S. and international sanctions against Tehran.

However, the deal came with time limits and did not address Iran’s ballistic missile program or its regional policies in Syria and elsewhere. Trump called the accord the “worst deal ever.”

Some U.S. allies oppose the sanctions and are seeking to keep the nuclear deal alive. Last week, the European Union announced a financial support package to help bolster Iran’s flagging economy.

Pompeo called the world court challenge an attempt by Tehran “to interfere with the sovereign rights of the United States to take lawful actions, including reimposition of sanctions, which are necessary to protect our national security.”

The United States, which argues that the court does not have jurisdiction in the case, is to present its legal arguments to judges Tuesday.

Pompeo said lawyers would “vigorously defend” the U.S. and “we will continue to work with our allies to counter the Iranian regime’s destabilizing activities in the region, block their financing of terror, and address Iran’s proliferation of ballistic missiles and other advanced weapons systems that threaten international peace and stability. We will also ensure Iran has no path to a nuclear weapon — not now, not ever.”
…

Iran warned Monday that reimposed U.S. sanctions would cripple its economy and plunge the volatile Middle East deeper into crisis as it urged the United Nations’ highest court to suspend the Trump administration’s economic pressure on Tehran.

In a written statement about the case at the International Court of Justice, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called Iran’s claims “meritless” and defended the sanctions as a way of keeping Americans safe.

The world court’s wood-paneled Great Hall of Justice in The Hague is the latest backdrop for Washington and Tehran’s high-stakes dispute about Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

President Donald Trump said in May that he would pull the U.S. out of a 2015 agreement over Iran’s nuclear program and would reimpose sanctions on Tehran. Washington also threatened other countries with sanctions if they don’t cut off Iranian oil imports by early November.

Iran filed a case with the court in July challenging the reimposition. Tehran alleges that the sanctions breach a 1955 bilateral agreement known as the Treaty of Amity that regulates and promotes economic and consular ties between the two countries.

The treaty was signed when the U.S. and Iran were still allies following the 1953 revolution — fomented by Britain and the U.S. — that ultimately cemented the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

However, diplomatic relations were severed following the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran and takeover of the U.S. Embassy and ensuing hostage crisis. Despite that dramatic deterioration in relations, the treaty remains in force.

Iran and the U.S. have a history of litigation at the International Court of Justice, in cases covering crises including the embassy seizure and the shooting down of an Iranian passenger jet mistaken by a U.S. warship for a fighter jet.

Rulings by the world court, which settles disputes between nations, are final and legally binding. However, it remains to be seen if the U.S. would abide by a court order to suspend sanctions on Iran.

‘Naked economic aggression’

At Monday’s hearings, Tehran asked judges to urgently order a suspension of the sanctions while the case challenging their legality is being heard — a process that can take years. A decision on the urgent request for a suspension is likely to take weeks.

Iranian representative Mohsen Mohebi told the court the U.S. sanctions are a clear breach of the 1955 treaty because they are “intended to damage, as severely as possible, Iran’s economy.” He called Trump’s sanctions policy “nothing but a naked economic aggression against my country.”

Mohebi also warned that the sanctions could exacerbate regional tensions.

His comments came a day after Iran’s defense minister said his country will continue its support of the Syrian government to ensure improved security in the region. Israel has expressed concern over Iran’s growing influence in Syria, accusing Tehran of seeking to establish a foothold near the frontier with the Jewish state. The United States has been pressing for Iran to withdraw its fighters from Syria.

2015 nuclear deal

Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, brokered when Barack Obama was still in the White House, imposed restrictions on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of most U.S. and international sanctions against Tehran.

However, the deal came with time limits and did not address Iran’s ballistic missile program or its regional policies in Syria and elsewhere. Trump called the accord the “worst deal ever.”

Some U.S. allies oppose the sanctions and are seeking to keep the nuclear deal alive. Last week, the European Union announced a financial support package to help bolster Iran’s flagging economy.

Pompeo called the world court challenge an attempt by Tehran “to interfere with the sovereign rights of the United States to take lawful actions, including reimposition of sanctions, which are necessary to protect our national security.”

The United States, which argues that the court does not have jurisdiction in the case, is to present its legal arguments to judges Tuesday.

Pompeo said lawyers would “vigorously defend” the U.S. and “we will continue to work with our allies to counter the Iranian regime’s destabilizing activities in the region, block their financing of terror, and address Iran’s proliferation of ballistic missiles and other advanced weapons systems that threaten international peace and stability. We will also ensure Iran has no path to a nuclear weapon — not now, not ever.”
…

The United States and Mexico have reached a trade agreement, leaving Canada as the odd man out in efforts to revise or replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), according to U.S. President Donald Trump.

The new deal will be called the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, Trump said Monday.

“We’ll get rid of the name NAFTA, it has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years,” Trump said.

“It’s a big day for trade, it’s a big day for our country,” Trump said with reporters present, who were called to the Oval Office to watch as Trump spoke on the telephone with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

The Mexican leader expressed hope to “renew, modernize and update” NAFTA while Trump’s rhetoric indicated he sees that 24-year-old three-nation deal as dead.

“We’ll have a formal news conference in the not-too-distant future,” about the trade pact, Trump said to Pena Nieto.

“This is something very positive for the United States and Mexico,” Pena Nieto replied, saying he is looking forward to toasting Trump with tequila to celebrate, expressing to his American counterpart that he is “really grateful and greatly recognize and acknowledge your political will in all of this.”

Mexico has agreed to immediately begin purchasing as many agricultural products from the United States as possible, according to Trump.

Pena Nieto leaves office on December 1, turning over the Mexican government to his leftist successor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. That means the clock is ticking to give Mexico’s legislature enough time to ratify it before the change of administration.

Congressional notification expected

The White House is also expected to formally notify Congress by the end of this week of its intention to sign a new trade agreement within 90 days.

“It will be likely be signed at the end of November,” said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who was also in the Oval Office, along with Mexico’s foreign and trade ministers, for the Trump-Pena Nieto phone call.

The U.S. president, since the time of his 2016 election campaign has referred to NAFTA as the worst trade deal in history and repeated especially inflammatory rhetoric about America’s southern neighbor.

Trump, who blames NAFTA for the destruction of manufacturing jobs in the United States, repeatedly threatened to abandon the trade pact with Canada and Mexico, which came into effect during the Clinton administration in 1994.

Trump has rejected other multi-national deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (another trade pact) and the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation, expressing a strong preference for one-on-one negotiations on trade and other matters with countries.

Negotiations with Canada

Trump said he would call Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau soon and that the United States is open to talks with Canada if it is willing to negotiate fairly.

“I’ll be terminating the existing deal,” Trump said in reference to NAFTA.

The U.S. president also threatened America’s northern neighbor with penalties if there is no agreement.

“Frankly, a tariff on cars is the much easier way to go,” said Trump.

In Ottawa, officials are expressing resilience.

“We will only sign a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and good for the middle class,” said the Canadian foreign ministry in a statement, indicating Ottawa’s willingness to “continue to work toward a modernized NAFTA.”

“We hope that Canada can join in now,” Lighthizer subsequently told reporters during a conference call.

White House officials are denying that Monday’s announcement by the presidents of the United States and Mexico was designed to pressure the Canadians.

“Leaving Canada out of a new NAFTA would be a mistake and it is questionable whether the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has the authority under current Trade Promotion Authority legislation to conclude just a bilateral with Mexico,” a visiting scholar at the Cato Institute, Inu Manak, who focuses on trade conflicts, tells VOA News.  “What happens next is anyone’s guess, but we should keep our eyes open for the return of Canada’s Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, to Washington to wrap up the discussions soon.”

The three North American countries do about $1 trillion in trade among themselves annually.

 
…

The United States and Mexico have reached a trade agreement, leaving Canada as the odd man out in efforts to revise or replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), according to U.S. President Donald Trump.

The new deal will be called the United States-Mexico Trade Agreement, Trump said Monday.

“We’ll get rid of the name NAFTA, it has a bad connotation because the United States was hurt very badly by NAFTA for many years,” Trump said.

“It’s a big day for trade, it’s a big day for our country,” Trump said with reporters present, who were called to the Oval Office to watch as Trump spoke on the telephone with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto.

The Mexican leader expressed hope to “renew, modernize and update” NAFTA while Trump’s rhetoric indicated he sees that 24-year-old three-nation deal as dead.

“We’ll have a formal news conference in the not-too-distant future,” about the trade pact, Trump said to Pena Nieto.

“This is something very positive for the United States and Mexico,” Pena Nieto replied, saying he is looking forward to toasting Trump with tequila to celebrate, expressing to his American counterpart that he is “really grateful and greatly recognize and acknowledge your political will in all of this.”

Mexico has agreed to immediately begin purchasing as many agricultural products from the United States as possible, according to Trump.

Pena Nieto leaves office on December 1, turning over the Mexican government to his leftist successor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. That means the clock is ticking to give Mexico’s legislature enough time to ratify it before the change of administration.

Congressional notification expected

The White House is also expected to formally notify Congress by the end of this week of its intention to sign a new trade agreement within 90 days.

“It will be likely be signed at the end of November,” said U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, who was also in the Oval Office, along with Mexico’s foreign and trade ministers, for the Trump-Pena Nieto phone call.

The U.S. president, since the time of his 2016 election campaign has referred to NAFTA as the worst trade deal in history and repeated especially inflammatory rhetoric about America’s southern neighbor.

Trump, who blames NAFTA for the destruction of manufacturing jobs in the United States, repeatedly threatened to abandon the trade pact with Canada and Mexico, which came into effect during the Clinton administration in 1994.

Trump has rejected other multi-national deals, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (another trade pact) and the Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation, expressing a strong preference for one-on-one negotiations on trade and other matters with countries.

Negotiations with Canada

Trump said he would call Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau soon and that the United States is open to talks with Canada if it is willing to negotiate fairly.

“I’ll be terminating the existing deal,” Trump said in reference to NAFTA.

The U.S. president also threatened America’s northern neighbor with penalties if there is no agreement.

“Frankly, a tariff on cars is the much easier way to go,” said Trump.

In Ottawa, officials are expressing resilience.

“We will only sign a new NAFTA that is good for Canada and good for the middle class,” said the Canadian foreign ministry in a statement, indicating Ottawa’s willingness to “continue to work toward a modernized NAFTA.”

“We hope that Canada can join in now,” Lighthizer subsequently told reporters during a conference call.

White House officials are denying that Monday’s announcement by the presidents of the United States and Mexico was designed to pressure the Canadians.

“Leaving Canada out of a new NAFTA would be a mistake and it is questionable whether the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has the authority under current Trade Promotion Authority legislation to conclude just a bilateral with Mexico,” a visiting scholar at the Cato Institute, Inu Manak, who focuses on trade conflicts, tells VOA News.  “What happens next is anyone’s guess, but we should keep our eyes open for the return of Canada’s Foreign Minister, Chrystia Freeland, to Washington to wrap up the discussions soon.”

The three North American countries do about $1 trillion in trade among themselves annually.

 
…

Some critics of U.S. President Donald Trump have urged impeachment proceedings against him after his former attorney implicated the president in a possible campaign finance violation. But in Congress, where an impeachment would take place, the president’s political opponents are taking a cautious stance.
…

Some critics of U.S. President Donald Trump have urged impeachment proceedings against him after his former attorney implicated the president in a possible campaign finance violation. But in Congress, where an impeachment would take place, the president’s political opponents are taking a cautious stance.
…

Hurricane Lane secured its place in the history books before it quickly dissipated into a tropical storm and moved off from Hawaii. The storm caused damage, mostly on the Big Island, where rivers raged near Hilo and nearly 40 people had to be rescued from homes.

There were no deaths from the storm, which had the potential to cause much more destruction.

Here’s a look at the storm and its impact on Hawaii.

Rain Maker

The storm named Lane was barreling toward the Hawaiian Islands as a powerful Category 5 hurricane in the middle of the week. But then it slowed down, moving as slow as 2 mph at times.

As it lingered, the storm’s outer bands were already over the Big Island, allowing Lane to drop 51.53 inches (131 centimeters) of rain as of early Sunday morning, according to preliminary figures from the National Weather Service.

That puts it in third place for the most rain from a storm in the United States since 1950. Hurricane Harvey, which stalled over Houston last year, dropped the most rain in that span with 60.58 inches (154 centimeters), Bingaman said. Hurricane Hiki dropped 52 inches (132 centimeters) in Hawaii in 1950, and Amelia produced a 48-inch (122 centimeter) rainfall in 1978.

Rain was still falling on the Big Island, and the total could still increase.

So what happened to Lane?

Residents and businesses across the islands prepared for the worst, boarding up windows and stocking up on supplies. Tourists in hotels along Waikiki Beach in Honolulu didn’t heed warnings to get out of the water. But many visitors stocked up on snack food and beer at convenience stores just in case.

While the Big Island took the brunt of the storm, the worst of fears never materialized as Lane quickly fell apart.

Winds ultimately caused the demise of Lane, National Weather Service meteorologist Vanessa Almanza said.

The storm moved in the central Pacific along a high-pressure ridge last week, when there wasn’t much wind shear to affect the hurricane.

But then the storm began moving north toward Hawaii around the high-pressure ridge, and that’s when its winds died down and it lost speed.

The jet stream “just kind of pushed the top off of the hurricane and what happens is it loses exhaust so it just starts collapsing,” Almanza said.

It was downgraded to a tropical storm on Friday, and all warnings for Hawaii were cancelled Saturday morning after the storm turned west and moved away from the state.

LAVA

Hawaii’s Big Island has had more than its fair share of natural disasters this year, with Kilauea volcano destroying more than 700 homes with lava.

If there’s any silver lining, it’s that the lava rock might have helped absorb some of the rainwater better than soil because it’s more porous, Bingaman said.

Matthew Purvis, president of the Mainstreet Pahoa Association, said land in the Puna district on the southern part of the island is so porous, there are few waterways that will get clogged or overflow.

Speaking of Kilauea

The volcano is still erupting. In fact, it’s been in a continuous state of eruption since 1983, and it opened up several vents beginning in May. It was those vents that sent lava down rural streets, destroying entire neighborhoods as it flowed to the ocean.

The volcano has settled down since, but it is still active.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says Tropical Storm Lane had little effect on the volcano beyond some minor rock falls at the summit. The observatory also lost communication with some monitoring stations.

The observatory also says whiteout conditions could occur on the new lava field because of steam created when rain falls on the still-hot lava flows.

Need a break

It’s been a trying few months as Mother Nature — or Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, has set her sights on the Big Island, first with destruction from the volcano to storm damage.

“Definitely we need a break,” Hawaii County Managing Director Will Okabe said, quickly adding that it’s hurricane season and other storms could still develop.

“We are going to be prepared, and we always do that well on the Big Island,” he said.

Hurricane and wildfires

It’s not known if the storm played any role in the start of several wildfires near the historical coastal town of Lahaina on Maui. But the high winds early Friday morning certainly helped spread the fire, according to Maui county officials.

The hurricane also played a role in helping firefighters contain the fires, with about 12 inches of rain falling on the island in a 24-hour period through Saturday.

The wildfires in a dry part of the county burned 2,000 acres (810 hectares); destroyed 21 structures and forced more than 600 people into shelters. One woman was injured and flown to Honolulu for treatment.

Brush fires also started on Oahu, which is also dry but got only a fraction of the rains that the Big Island and Maui received from the storm.
…

Hurricane Lane secured its place in the history books before it quickly dissipated into a tropical storm and moved off from Hawaii. The storm caused damage, mostly on the Big Island, where rivers raged near Hilo and nearly 40 people had to be rescued from homes.

There were no deaths from the storm, which had the potential to cause much more destruction.

Here’s a look at the storm and its impact on Hawaii.

Rain Maker

The storm named Lane was barreling toward the Hawaiian Islands as a powerful Category 5 hurricane in the middle of the week. But then it slowed down, moving as slow as 2 mph at times.

As it lingered, the storm’s outer bands were already over the Big Island, allowing Lane to drop 51.53 inches (131 centimeters) of rain as of early Sunday morning, according to preliminary figures from the National Weather Service.

That puts it in third place for the most rain from a storm in the United States since 1950. Hurricane Harvey, which stalled over Houston last year, dropped the most rain in that span with 60.58 inches (154 centimeters), Bingaman said. Hurricane Hiki dropped 52 inches (132 centimeters) in Hawaii in 1950, and Amelia produced a 48-inch (122 centimeter) rainfall in 1978.

Rain was still falling on the Big Island, and the total could still increase.

So what happened to Lane?

Residents and businesses across the islands prepared for the worst, boarding up windows and stocking up on supplies. Tourists in hotels along Waikiki Beach in Honolulu didn’t heed warnings to get out of the water. But many visitors stocked up on snack food and beer at convenience stores just in case.

While the Big Island took the brunt of the storm, the worst of fears never materialized as Lane quickly fell apart.

Winds ultimately caused the demise of Lane, National Weather Service meteorologist Vanessa Almanza said.

The storm moved in the central Pacific along a high-pressure ridge last week, when there wasn’t much wind shear to affect the hurricane.

But then the storm began moving north toward Hawaii around the high-pressure ridge, and that’s when its winds died down and it lost speed.

The jet stream “just kind of pushed the top off of the hurricane and what happens is it loses exhaust so it just starts collapsing,” Almanza said.

It was downgraded to a tropical storm on Friday, and all warnings for Hawaii were cancelled Saturday morning after the storm turned west and moved away from the state.

LAVA

Hawaii’s Big Island has had more than its fair share of natural disasters this year, with Kilauea volcano destroying more than 700 homes with lava.

If there’s any silver lining, it’s that the lava rock might have helped absorb some of the rainwater better than soil because it’s more porous, Bingaman said.

Matthew Purvis, president of the Mainstreet Pahoa Association, said land in the Puna district on the southern part of the island is so porous, there are few waterways that will get clogged or overflow.

Speaking of Kilauea

The volcano is still erupting. In fact, it’s been in a continuous state of eruption since 1983, and it opened up several vents beginning in May. It was those vents that sent lava down rural streets, destroying entire neighborhoods as it flowed to the ocean.

The volcano has settled down since, but it is still active.

The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory says Tropical Storm Lane had little effect on the volcano beyond some minor rock falls at the summit. The observatory also lost communication with some monitoring stations.

The observatory also says whiteout conditions could occur on the new lava field because of steam created when rain falls on the still-hot lava flows.

Need a break

It’s been a trying few months as Mother Nature — or Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess, has set her sights on the Big Island, first with destruction from the volcano to storm damage.

“Definitely we need a break,” Hawaii County Managing Director Will Okabe said, quickly adding that it’s hurricane season and other storms could still develop.

“We are going to be prepared, and we always do that well on the Big Island,” he said.

Hurricane and wildfires

It’s not known if the storm played any role in the start of several wildfires near the historical coastal town of Lahaina on Maui. But the high winds early Friday morning certainly helped spread the fire, according to Maui county officials.

The hurricane also played a role in helping firefighters contain the fires, with about 12 inches of rain falling on the island in a 24-hour period through Saturday.

The wildfires in a dry part of the county burned 2,000 acres (810 hectares); destroyed 21 structures and forced more than 600 people into shelters. One woman was injured and flown to Honolulu for treatment.

Brush fires also started on Oahu, which is also dry but got only a fraction of the rains that the Big Island and Maui received from the storm.
…

The Vatican’s retired ambassador to the United States accused senior Vatican officials of knowing as early as 2000 that the disgraced former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, regularly invited seminarians into his bed but was made a cardinal regardless.

The letter, an extraordinary allegation from a one-time Holy See diplomat, also accuses Pope Francis of knowing about McCarrick’s behavior in 2013 but rehabilitating him — a claim of cover-up against the pontiff himself.

The National Catholic Register and another conservative site, LifeSiteNews, published the letter attributed to Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano on Sunday as the pope wrapped up a two-day visit to Ireland dominated by the clerical sex abuse scandal.

Vigano, 77, a conservative whose hard-line anti-gay views are well known, urged the reformist pope to resign over the issue and what he called the “conspiracy of silence” about McCarrick. He and the pope have long been on opposite ideological sides, with the pope more a pastor and Vigano more a cultural warrior.

The Vatican did not immediately comment. The document’s authenticity was confirmed to The Associated Press by an Italian journalist, Marco Tosatti, who said he was with Vigano when the archbishop wrote it Wednesday.

“He was very emotional and upset at the end the effort,” Tosatti told AP, adding that Vigano left Tosatti’s home afterward without saying where he was going.

In the letter, Vigano accused the former Vatican secretaries of state under the previous two popes of ignoring detailed denunciations against McCarrick for years. He said Pope Benedict XVI eventually sanctioned McCarrick in 2009 or 2010 to a lifetime of penance and prayer.

Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation as cardinal last month, after a U.S. church investigation determined that an accusation he had sexually abused a minor was credible.

Since then, another man has come forward to say McCarrick began molesting him starting when he was 11, and several former seminarians have said McCarrick abused and harassed them when they were in seminary. The accusations have created a crisis of confidence in the U.S. hierarchy, because it was apparently an open secret that McCarrick regularly invited seminarians to his New Jersey beach house, and into his bed.

Coupled with the devastating allegations of sex abuse and cover-up in a recent Pennsylvania grand jury report — which found that 300 priests had abused more than 1,000 children over 70 years in six dioceses — the scandal has led to calls for heads to roll and for a full Vatican investigation into who knew what and when about McCarrick.

Vigano apparently sought to answer some of those questions. His letter identifies by name the Vatican cardinals and archbishops who were informed about the McCarrick affair, an unthinkable expose for a Vatican diplomat to make. He said documents backing up his version of events are in Vatican archives.

The Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S. from 2011 to 2016, Vigano said his two immediate predecessors “did not fail” to inform the Holy See about accusations against McCarrick, starting in 2000.

He said Francis asked him about McCarrick when they met on June 23, 2013, at the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel where the pope lives, three months after Francis was elected pope.

Vigano wrote that he told Francis: “Holy Father, I don’t know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation of Bishops, there is a dossier this thick about him. He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests, and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.”

Soon thereafter, Vigano wrote, he was surprised to find that McCarrick had started traveling on missions on behalf of the church, including to China. McCarrick was also one of the Vatican’s intermediaries in the U.S.-Cuba talks in 2014.

Vigano’s claim that McCarrick had been ordered by Benedict to stay out of public ministry and retire to a lifetime of prayer is somewhat disputed, given that McCarrick enjoyed a fairly public retirement. Vigano provides no evidence that such sanctions were imposed by Benedict in any official capacity, saying only that he was told they were.

The letter also contains a lengthy diatribe about homosexuals and liberals in the Catholic church. It often reads like an ideological manifesto, naming all of Francis’ known supporters in the U.S. hierarchy as being complicit in a cover-up of McCarrick’s misdeeds.

“Now that the corruption has reached the very top of the church’s hierarchy, my conscience dictates that I reveal those truths regarding the heart-breaking case of the archbishop emeritus of Washington,” Vigano wrote.

Vigano, however, also has had his own problems with allegations of cover-up, and he and Francis had a major dust-up during Francis’ 2015 visit to the U.S., which Vigano organized.

In that incident, a leading U.S. opponent of gay marriage, Kim Davis, was among those invited to meet with the pope at Vigano’s Washington residence. Francis was so enraged that Davis’ supporters had leaked word of the meeting that the Vatican subsequently insisted he only held one private audience while there: with one of his former students, a gay man and his partner.

The cover-up accusation, which Vigano denied, concerned allegations that he tried to quash an investigation into the former archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota, John Nienstedt, who was accused of misconduct with adult seminarians.

In 2016, the National Catholic Reporter said Vigano allegedly ordered the investigation wrapped up and a piece of evidence destroyed. The report cited a 2014 memo from a diocesan official that was unsealed following the conclusion of a criminal investigation into the archdiocese. No charges were filed.

In a statement provided to the AP Sunday about the Nienstedt case, Vigano said a Vatican investigation of the allegation found no wrongdoing on his part.

He said the allegation that he destroyed evidence was false and that his efforts to have the archdiocese correct the record have been met with silence.

Nienstedt was forced to resign in 2015 over complaints about his handling of sex abuse cases.

Vigano’s name also made headlines during the 2012 “Vatileaks” scandal, when some of his letters were published. In them, he begged not to be transferred to the Vatican embassy in Washington from the administration of the Vatican City State.

He claimed he was being punished for having exposed corruption in the Vatican. The letters showed a clash with Benedict’s No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who is also a target of his McCarrick missive.

 
…

The Vatican’s retired ambassador to the United States accused senior Vatican officials of knowing as early as 2000 that the disgraced former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, regularly invited seminarians into his bed but was made a cardinal regardless.

The letter, an extraordinary allegation from a one-time Holy See diplomat, also accuses Pope Francis of knowing about McCarrick’s behavior in 2013 but rehabilitating him — a claim of cover-up against the pontiff himself.

The National Catholic Register and another conservative site, LifeSiteNews, published the letter attributed to Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano on Sunday as the pope wrapped up a two-day visit to Ireland dominated by the clerical sex abuse scandal.

Vigano, 77, a conservative whose hard-line anti-gay views are well known, urged the reformist pope to resign over the issue and what he called the “conspiracy of silence” about McCarrick. He and the pope have long been on opposite ideological sides, with the pope more a pastor and Vigano more a cultural warrior.

The Vatican did not immediately comment. The document’s authenticity was confirmed to The Associated Press by an Italian journalist, Marco Tosatti, who said he was with Vigano when the archbishop wrote it Wednesday.

“He was very emotional and upset at the end the effort,” Tosatti told AP, adding that Vigano left Tosatti’s home afterward without saying where he was going.

In the letter, Vigano accused the former Vatican secretaries of state under the previous two popes of ignoring detailed denunciations against McCarrick for years. He said Pope Benedict XVI eventually sanctioned McCarrick in 2009 or 2010 to a lifetime of penance and prayer.

Francis accepted McCarrick’s resignation as cardinal last month, after a U.S. church investigation determined that an accusation he had sexually abused a minor was credible.

Since then, another man has come forward to say McCarrick began molesting him starting when he was 11, and several former seminarians have said McCarrick abused and harassed them when they were in seminary. The accusations have created a crisis of confidence in the U.S. hierarchy, because it was apparently an open secret that McCarrick regularly invited seminarians to his New Jersey beach house, and into his bed.

Coupled with the devastating allegations of sex abuse and cover-up in a recent Pennsylvania grand jury report — which found that 300 priests had abused more than 1,000 children over 70 years in six dioceses — the scandal has led to calls for heads to roll and for a full Vatican investigation into who knew what and when about McCarrick.

Vigano apparently sought to answer some of those questions. His letter identifies by name the Vatican cardinals and archbishops who were informed about the McCarrick affair, an unthinkable expose for a Vatican diplomat to make. He said documents backing up his version of events are in Vatican archives.

The Vatican’s ambassador to the U.S. from 2011 to 2016, Vigano said his two immediate predecessors “did not fail” to inform the Holy See about accusations against McCarrick, starting in 2000.

He said Francis asked him about McCarrick when they met on June 23, 2013, at the Vatican’s Santa Marta hotel where the pope lives, three months after Francis was elected pope.

Vigano wrote that he told Francis: “Holy Father, I don’t know if you know Cardinal McCarrick, but if you ask the Congregation of Bishops, there is a dossier this thick about him. He corrupted generations of seminarians and priests, and Pope Benedict ordered him to withdraw to a life of prayer and penance.”

Soon thereafter, Vigano wrote, he was surprised to find that McCarrick had started traveling on missions on behalf of the church, including to China. McCarrick was also one of the Vatican’s intermediaries in the U.S.-Cuba talks in 2014.

Vigano’s claim that McCarrick had been ordered by Benedict to stay out of public ministry and retire to a lifetime of prayer is somewhat disputed, given that McCarrick enjoyed a fairly public retirement. Vigano provides no evidence that such sanctions were imposed by Benedict in any official capacity, saying only that he was told they were.

The letter also contains a lengthy diatribe about homosexuals and liberals in the Catholic church. It often reads like an ideological manifesto, naming all of Francis’ known supporters in the U.S. hierarchy as being complicit in a cover-up of McCarrick’s misdeeds.

“Now that the corruption has reached the very top of the church’s hierarchy, my conscience dictates that I reveal those truths regarding the heart-breaking case of the archbishop emeritus of Washington,” Vigano wrote.

Vigano, however, also has had his own problems with allegations of cover-up, and he and Francis had a major dust-up during Francis’ 2015 visit to the U.S., which Vigano organized.

In that incident, a leading U.S. opponent of gay marriage, Kim Davis, was among those invited to meet with the pope at Vigano’s Washington residence. Francis was so enraged that Davis’ supporters had leaked word of the meeting that the Vatican subsequently insisted he only held one private audience while there: with one of his former students, a gay man and his partner.

The cover-up accusation, which Vigano denied, concerned allegations that he tried to quash an investigation into the former archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis, Minnesota, John Nienstedt, who was accused of misconduct with adult seminarians.

In 2016, the National Catholic Reporter said Vigano allegedly ordered the investigation wrapped up and a piece of evidence destroyed. The report cited a 2014 memo from a diocesan official that was unsealed following the conclusion of a criminal investigation into the archdiocese. No charges were filed.

In a statement provided to the AP Sunday about the Nienstedt case, Vigano said a Vatican investigation of the allegation found no wrongdoing on his part.

He said the allegation that he destroyed evidence was false and that his efforts to have the archdiocese correct the record have been met with silence.

Nienstedt was forced to resign in 2015 over complaints about his handling of sex abuse cases.

Vigano’s name also made headlines during the 2012 “Vatileaks” scandal, when some of his letters were published. In them, he begged not to be transferred to the Vatican embassy in Washington from the administration of the Vatican City State.

He claimed he was being punished for having exposed corruption in the Vatican. The letters showed a clash with Benedict’s No. 2, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who is also a target of his McCarrick missive.

 
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