The Vatican announced Saturday that Pope Francis has defrocked former U.S. Cardinal Theodore McCarrick after Roman Catholic officials found him guilty of sexual abuse in the church. The 88-year-old former archbishop of Washington, D.C., can no longer celebrate Mass or other sacraments, wear clerical vestments, or have any title in the church. The Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith office of the Vatican on Jan.

Pope Francis defrocked a Chilean priest at the center of the ongoing sex abuse scandal in Chile, the Vatican announced Friday. The statement cited the “exceptional amount of damage” the priest’s crimes had done, adding that Francis was stiffening the sentence for “the good of the church.”

The Willow Creek Association announced Tuesday the formation of an independent committee to investigate accusations of sexual misconduct against Willow Creek Community Church’s founding pastor, Bill Hybels.

New York and New Jersey launched investigations Friday into the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of sex abuse allegations. Three weeks after a grand jury report found rampant sexual abuse of children by priests in Pennsylvania since the 1940s, Catholic leaders in New York and New Jersey said they would cooperate with authorities. The New York Archdiocese confirmed it received subpoenas and vowed to work with state Attorney General Barbara Underwood.

The archbishop of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Donald Wuerl, in a statement released Monday denied he was ever informed of the sexual accusations and penalties leveled against his predecessor. Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò over the weekend published an 11-page letter accusing senior Vatican officials of knowing as early as 2000 that former Archbishop Theodore McCarrick regularly invited seminarians into his bed.

Pope Francis declined Sunday to confirm or deny claims by the Vatican’s retired ambassador to the United States that he knew in 2013 about sexual misconduct accusations against the former archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick, but rehabilitated him anyway. As the pope wrapped up a two-day visit to Ireland over the weekend, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò published a letter accusing senior Vatican officials of knowing as early as 2000 that McCarrick regularly invited seminarians into his bed. Francis said Viganò’s 11-page text “speaks for itself” and that he wouldn’t comment on it.

In a letter to Catholics around the world, Pope Francis on Monday condemned the crime of priestly sexual abuse and its cover-up by church leaders. Scandal has once again embroiled the Roman Catholic Church following the release last week of a grand jury report on widespread abuse in six Pennsylvania dioceses. Ahead of a trip this coming weekend to Ireland, where the sexual sin of priests has drained the church of much of its credibility, the pope called for change and accountability.