the last book I ever read (Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church, excerpt twenty-two)

from Jesus Wept: Seven Popes and the Battle for the Soul of the Catholic Church by Philip Shenon:

After returning to Rome, Sodano took cash gifts from a third prominent churchman, another successful fundraiser, who was also a pedophile: Cardinal McCarrick. In 2001, McCarrick established a personal charity fund that over the years distributed more than $6 million. The “Archbishop’s Special Fund” was separate from the Papal Foundation, the much larger charity McCarrick founded in the 1980s. Years later, ledgers from his “Special Fund” were leaked to news organizations and identified McCarrick’s donors. His largest contributor was a federal appeals court judge in New Jersey, Maryanne Trump Barry, sister of future US president Donald Trump. The judge, a convert to Catholicism, donated at least $450,000 to the charity.

McCarrick knew he had a reputation as a man with easy access to cash: “I think some people thought I was a millionaire or something.” Much of the money from his personal fund went to legitimate charities, but at least $600,000 went directly to individual churchmen in Rome. John Paul II received at least $91,000 over the years, the ledgers show, while Sodano received at least $19,000.