Pope Francis Sacks Cardinal Over sexual assault Cases

Mueller’s office processes and evaluates all cases of priests accused of raping or molesting minors.

This development comes just days after Pope Francis released another top Vatican cardinal to return home to stand trial for alleged sexual assault.

Mueller had also been caught up in the controversy surrounding the church’s response to the clerical sex abuse scandal after his office was accused of obstructing Francis’s efforts to stop internal cover-ups of abuse.

In March 2017, a prominent church reform group called for Mueller’s resignation after accusations that senior officials had willfully ignored Francis’s decision to create a new tribunal to judge bishops who cover up sexual abuse.

Pope Francis named Mueller’s deputy, Monsignor Luis Ladaria Ferrer, a Spanish Jesuit, to run the powerful office instead.