The Pope is a fucking liar. "The pope said his public silence had been inspired by that of Jesus before Pontius Pilate on Good Friday." The Pope is a fucking moron.

Wall Street Journal - Pope Francis Denies He Knew of U.S. Cardinal’s Sexual Misconduct

Church’s long-running crisis over clerical sexual abuse threatens to overshadow the pontiff’s reign.

By Francis X. Rocca

May 28, 2019 2:50 p.m. ET

VATICAN CITY—Pope Francis responded for the first time to an accusation that has dogged his pontificate since last year, denying that he knew about former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s history of sexual misconduct before it was revealed by a church investigation.

“I knew nothing about McCarrick, obviously, nothing, nothing,” the pope said in an interview with Mexico’s Televisa network, according to a transcript published Tuesday by an official Vatican news outlet, Vatican News. “I knew nothing about McCarrick, otherwise I wouldn’t have remained silent, right?”

In February, Mr. McCarrick, an 88-year-old former archbishop of Washington, became the first cardinal in modern times to be dismissed from the priesthood after a Vatican trial found him guilty of sexual abuse of minors and sexual misconduct with adults.

The McCarrick case is one of several high-profile scandals since last year in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Australia that have reignited the church’s long-running crisis over clerical sexual abuse, threatening to overshadow Pope Francis’ reign.

Last August, a former Vatican envoy to the U.S. published a letter accusing Pope Francis of ignoring Mr. McCarrick’s history of misconduct with adult seminarians and making Mr. McCarrick a powerful adviser.

The envoy, Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, said he had informed Pope Francis of Mr. McCarrick’s history in 2013, telling the pope that his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI had placed the then-cardinal under restrictions to punish him for the misconduct.

In October, the Vatican confirmed that Mr. McCarrick had been restricted from travel and public appearances and told to lead a “discreet style of life of prayer and penitence” because of rumors about his behavior.

At a news conference in August last year, the pope declined to respond to Archbishop Viganò’s accusations. He has maintained a public silence on the matter till now.

In the new interview, Pope Francis appeared to refer to his previous private denials of the accusations, saying: “I said so several times that I didn’t know, had no idea.”

But he also said, regarding Archbishop Viganò’s account of their 2013 conversation: “I don’t remember if he spoke to me of this. If it’s true or not, I have no idea.”

The pope said his public silence had been inspired by that of Jesus before Pontius Pilate on Good Friday.

“Before a climate of cruelty one cannot answer. And that letter [by Archbishop Viganò] was a work of cruelty,” the pope said.

Write to Francis X. Rocca at francis.rocca@wsj.com