. >>> and news involving ousted cardinal mccarrick. reports that he wrote checks for more than $600,000, payments made at the same time the vatican was under fire for failing to investigate allegations of sexual harassment against him. here's david wright. >> reporter: tonight, tough new questions for the roman catholic church about why officials turned a blind eye for years to allegations of sexual misconduct by former cardinal theodore mccarrick. "the washington post" reports mccarrick gave hundreds of thousands of dollars from a discretionary fund he controlled to powerful church figures, including $90,000 to pope john paul and $291,000 to pope benedict. pope francis finally defrocked mccarrick last year after a vatican investigation found him guilty of abusing his office for sex. but church officials have never explained why they failed to act sooner. father boniface ramsey, now a priest in manhattan, reported mccarrick's alleged misconduct nearly two decades ago. >> i sent the letter and then i never heard a thing. that was it. >>

cardin theodore mccarricked the initial response to revelations in 2002.s w year he defrocked after the church found himuilty of sexually abusing minors and seminarians for decades. questions remain about who might have known about his behavior. in austral, cardinal george pell is serving a six-year jail sentence for abusing two boys. he is appealing against that veict. critics say there are inconsistencies in th' churcs approach. last month an official inquiry into child abuse heard how they refuse to give evidence, citing diplomatic protocol. the church is adamant tt the confessional must always remain secret even the confession is about abuse. laura: a c bnge for the catholic church. you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, the traumaticbe impactf ing a migrt. why doctors warned that self harm is on the rise among refugee children in europe. australia is facing nstreme condits firefighters battled dozens of ferocious wildfires. officials in new s wales say the situation was unprecedented and thfires could reach a ma

if there is a conviction that is credible and confirmed in the case of the crew former cardinal mccarrick he has been defrocked he has been taken out of the college of cardinals and because of the public outcry you know that is what did it didn't know what now because now it started with an investigation by a church board in new york that stated that the allegations that came forward in 2018 for the 1st time that he abused not only seminarians were other. but for the 1st time miners were credible and then that was forwarded to the congregation for the doctrine of the faith that conducted the trial the trial found those allegations credible and he was defrocked immediately and you have a convicted sex offender in jail and still a cardinal is this really the image of the catholic church that you want to portray in 2090 as i said when when you have a bad as i said at the beginning i'm not happy at all about the situation and i hope that we will have clarity once the appeals court or the high court will i didn't defined what will be the penalty or if there is any you've got enough clarity to

cardinal theodore mccarrick helped lead the us church's response to initial abuse revelations in 2002found him guilty of sexually abusing miners and seminarians for decades. questions still remain over who might have known about his behaviour. burn in hell, pell! and in australia, cardinal george pell is serving a six—yearjail sentence for abusing two boys. he is currently appealing against that verdict. but critics say there are inconsistencies in the church's approach. last month, an official inquiry in britain heard how the country's papal ambassador refused to give evidence, citing diplomatic protocol. and the vatican is adamant that the seal of the confessional, where catholics privately recite their sins to a priest, must always remain secret even if the confession is about abuse. john mcmanus, bbc news. you're watching newsday on the bbc. still to come on the programme: under pressure from mainland china. we hear from taiwan's foreign minister who says the free world should stand behind his country as beijing becomes more assertive. thejewish barber bringing christmas joy to wa

if there is a conviction that is credible and confirmed in the case of the crew former cardinal mccarrick he has been defrocked he has been taken out of the college of cardinals and because of the public outcry that is what did it did no because what now because now it started with an investigation by a church board in new york that stated that the allegations that came forward in 2018 for the 1st time that he had abuse not only seminarians were other. but for the 1st time miners were credible and then that was forwarded to the congregation for the doctrine of the faith that conducted the trial the trial found those allegations credible and he was defrocked immediately and you have a convicted sex offender in jail and still a cardinal is this really the image of the catholic church that you want to portray in 2090 as i said when when you have a bad as i said at the beginning i'm not happy at all about the situation and i hope that we will have clarity once the appeal court or the high court will identical it defined what will be the penalty or if there is any you've got enough clarity to

mccarrick. if you had to pick a breaking point for american health care, where would you put it?uest: if you had to identify the issues that are driving our affordability crisis, it is number one pricing failures, number to the middleman industry, and number three in appropriate medical care. collectively there is broad consensus in america about addressing these issues. unfortunately our discussion has been sidetracked into this false choice we have into whether or not you are pro or con health care. i have yet to meet somebody who thinks that any industry has gone from nontransparent pricing to transparent pricing and then said this is a bad idea, let's go back to hiding prices. people are getting hammered out there. people are getting crushed. they are hungry for honest pricing and health care. it is ironic. i am a surgeon and i do pancreatic surgery. for most of my career, i could tell you 5000 things about pancreatic surgery except for 1 -- the price of surgery. people now need to know the prices. think that is similar among your colleagues at johns hopkins and surgeons in g

mccarrick. if you had to pick a breaking point for american health care, where would you put it?st: if you had to identify the issues that are driving our affordability crisis, it is number one pricing failures, number to the middleman industry, and number three in appropriate medical care. collectively there is broad consensus in america about addressing these issues. unfortunately our discussion has been sidetracked into this false choice we have into whether or not you are pro or con health care. i have yet to meet somebody who thinks that any industry has gone from nontransparent pricing to transparent pricing and then said this is a bad idea, let's go back to hiding prices. people are getting hammered out there. people are getting crushed. they are hungry for honest pricing and health care. it is ironic. i am a surgeon and i do pancreatic surgery. for most of my career, i could tell you 5000 things about pancreatic surgery except for 1 -- the price of surgery. people now need to know the prices. think that is similar among your colleagues at johns hopkins and surgeons in gen