BREAKING: McCarrick ruled incompetent to face criminal trial

Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick outside the Dedham District Court on Friday, Sept. 3, 2021. / Joe Bukuras / CNA

Dedham, Mass., Aug 30, 2023 / 12:37 pm (CNA).

Former cardinal Theodore McCarrick is not competent to stand trial on criminal sexual abuse charges in Massachusetts, a state district judge ruled Wednesday in criminal court. 

The dismissal of the charges follows separate examinations of McCarrick’s mental health by health professionals hired by both his and the state’s legal teams, both of which concurred on his incompetence.

McCarrick was charged in state court with three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14 relating to allegations that he sexually abused a teenager who was a family friend at a wedding ceremony in the 1970s at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts. 

That teenager was identified by NorthJersey.com in February as James Grein, a now-64-year-old former New Jersey resident.

The charges in Dedham were the first criminal charges that McCarrick has ever faced following several accusations of sexual abuse of minors and seminarians, which led to his removal from the clerical state in 2019. 

However, criminal sexual assault charges filed against McCarrick in Wisconsin in April are still pending, as are a number of civil lawsuits.

This is a developing story.