Cardinal Cupich Under Investigation for Withholding Bernardin Documents

Since the Vatican refuses to act, maybe the police and state prosecutors can bring Stupich down!

From One Peter Five

By Marco Tosatti

Editor’s note: the following article from Marco Tosatti originally appeared today in Italian at La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana, and has been translated for us by Giuseppe Pellegrino. It summarizes the story released earlier this week by Church Militant about documents obtained from secret Chicago diocesan archives pertaining to the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin’s alleged sexual abuse — some of it reportedly Satanic in nature — and the fact that Cardinal Blase Cupich failed to turn  this documentation over to law enforcement.

Not specifically mentioned in Tosatti’s piece or the original story from Church Militant is that some of the events described in the newly-discovered documents appear to validate the story of “Agnes,” the young girl who was allegedly ritually raped by a priest in a Satanic ceremony in South Carolina as depicted in the opening of Malachi Martin’s famous “non-fiction novel“, Windswept House. Bernardin has long been rumored to have been the perpetrator of this crime, and while the events as portrayed in Windswept House have been described as sensationalized, this article written decades ago by Stephen Brady of Roman Catholic Faithful (and reprinted by 1P5 contributor Matt C. Abbott at Renew America last year) takes an in-depth look at what is alleged to have happened, including reported testimony from “Agnes.” Another piece by the late Paul Likoudis, former editor of The Wanderer, and also reprinted by Abbott, explores more of the accusations against Bernardin and his associates. Both are worth consideration in light of what you are about to read.

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A Series of Documents Reveals That Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, Star of the Progressive American Church, Committed Sexual Abuse of a Minor Which Included Satanic Profanation of the Eucharist, and that Cardinal Cupich Covered Up The Facts.

Church Militant, an American website that is very active in the battle for a more transparent Church, has received from unknown sources within the Archdiocese of Chicago a dossier of letters and other documents which, among other things, reveal very serious accusations against the deceased Cardinal Archbishop of Chicago, Joseph Bernardin (1928-1996). In addition, these documents place the present Cardinal Archbishop, Blase Cupich, in an extremely difficult position before the civil authorities.

Among other things, according to Church Militant, the cardinal – who was named to this position thanks to the help of Cardinal Maradiaga on the advice of ex-cardinal McCarrick – is already under investigation by law enforcement. Cupich, as our readers will recall, was chosen by the Pope to be in charge of the bishops’ summit on abuse which was held at the Vatican last February, bypassing the one who should have been the natural candidate for that position, Cardinal Sean O’Malley.

Church Militant shows several of the documents related to this new bomb in a video which is visible at this link.

According to Michael Voris, Church Militant received this explosive dossier from persons inside the Archdiocese of Chicago who are nauseated by the climate of coverup and complicity. The correspondence is kept in a vault at the Archdiocesan offices. And Church Militant has learned that Archbishop Cupich is under investigation by state and federal authorities because he failed to reveal these facts.

The dossier includes letters, various correspondence, email, and reports which reveal that Bernardin abused both minors as well as adult males. The principal focus of the documents covers the years 1993 to 1995, but the first accusation comes from 1957, when Bernardin was a young priest of the Diocese of Charleston, South Carolina. Five years after his ordination, he is said to have sexually abused a female minor at St. Mary parish in Greenville. In addition to Bernardin, it is alleged that future bishop John J. Russell (1897-1993) also participated. The abuse, according to the accusation, was part of a Satanic rite which included the profanation of the Eucharist.

Many years later, in 1993, the victim contacted the Archdiocese of Chicago by phone and letter, wanting to denounce the facts of what had happened many years earlier. The documents obtained by Church Militant reveal that the Archdiocese of Chicago, the Pro-Nuncio to the United States (Archbishop Cacciavillan), and the Vatican Secretary of State were informed of the abuse. But it does not seem that there was ever an investigation, even just for the purpose of evaluating the merit of the case.

Church Militant is in possession of copies of letters and of the acknowledgement of receipt signed by an official of the Archdiocese on April 8, 1993. The victim also wrote a long letter to Bernardin, stating her accusations and asking him to publicly admit his transgressions and to repent.

The victim also wrote twice to Rome, to Pope John Paul II. She received a reply acknowledging her letter dated September 4, 1993, signed by Monsignor Leonardo Sandri who was at that time the Assessor of the Secretary of State. It is not known if the Polish Pope was ever informed of the nature of the accusations.

The victim, not succeeding in finding a satisfying response in Chicago, wrote twice to the Congregation for Bishops, and then in 1995 she went to Rome herself. As is evidenced by the documentation of the letter sent to her by the Pro-Nuncio, the correspondence on this matter was given a protocol number by the Secretary of State, number 17.598. It is probable that the accusations were not judged to be credible, but nowhere does it appear that there a request or a process of any sort to ascertain the facts. Such an investigation would have had to have Roman input or approval since the one accused was an archbishop and a cardinal. According to what is understood, and according to what the victim declares in one of her letters, the Archdiocese of Chicago attempted to question her in such a way that it would find out exactly what she knew and relate this information to Cardinal Bernardin.

All of this documentation was contained in the secret dossier of the Archdiocese, yet it was not handed over to the Attorney General of Illinois, Lisa Madigan, despite the affirmation of Cardinal Cupich that the Archdiocese was fully cooperating with the investigation by the State of Illinois. Last December, Madigan’s office amazed everybody when it declared that the bishops of Illinois, including Cupich, had not handed over – deliberately – the documentation and names of over 500 priests accused of abuse.

According to Church Militant, officials are now examining accusations linked directly to the actions of Cupich in Chicago, regarding misappropriation of funds and corruption. According to what Lisa Madigan said at the time,

“By choosing not to thoroughly investigate allegations, the Catholic Church has failed in its moral obligation to provide survivors, parishioners and the public a complete and accurate accounting of all sexually inappropriate behavior involving priests in Illinois.”

Now Cardinal Cupich finds himself faced with no simple dilemma: either he hands over the documents which Church Militant has copies of, or else he must face the accusation of destruction of evidence, because these documents existed at one time. Last month, Church Militant sent Cupich a series of questions relating to the documents it had received, but there was no response.

But this dossier, which displays the deliberate intention on the part of the Archdiocese of Chicago to “cover” for the one who has always been considered an icon of the progressive American Church, Joseph Bernardin, is not the only one. Church Militant says that it now possesses a large number of documents and other information regarding Bernardin, including accusations of sexual crimes. As Michael Voris comments: “The Church in America as now constituted was engineered and designed and brought into existence by –  not one (McCarrick) – but two homosexual predators who advanced the careers of multiple bishops who are still currently serving in senior posts.” And Voris promises more revelations shortly.

Marco Tosatti is a renowned Italian journalist and Vatican expert. He has been covering the Holy See since 1981. His written work appears in La Stampa and La Nuova Bussola Quotidiana. He is the author of several books, including The Prophecy of Fatima and Investigation of the Holy Shroud. He blogs at Marcotosatti.com.