Cardinal Joseph Tobin, C.Ss.R.

Photo: Archdiocese of Newark

Archbishop of Newark, USA

Dioceses/Religious Orders: Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists), Archdiocese of Detroit, Archdiocese of Chicago, Archdiocese of Indianapolis, Archdiocese of Newark

In 2018, a journalist wrote that Tobin told him after arriving in Newark that he heard “rumors” about McCarricks beach house, but never bothered to check them out, saying the story was too “incredulous” to believe. Months after Tobin made a pledge of transparency in 2019, the Archdiocese of Newark instructed seminary leader Joseph Reilly, once McCarrick’s secretary, not to answer questions about a 2014 allegation of sexual harassment at Seton Hall University. Despite an independent recommendation that Tobin should remove Reilly from leadership, Seton Hall, under the authority of Tobin, hired Reilly as its new president in 2024.

SNAP filed a complaint against Tobin under the pope’s 2023 decree Vos estis lux mundi on April 15, 2025

Vos estis lux mundi, Pope Francis’ 2023 decree, allows any bishop, cardinal, or religious superior to be reported and investigated for abuse or cover-up. These complaints, submitted to the Vatican, are not verdicts of guilt. They are evidence-based calls for investigation—each meeting the church’s own standard of “serious indications” that a violation occurred. In civil terms, this is equivalent to probable cause or reasonable grounds to investigate.

Every filing draws from a solid foundation of survivor and eyewitness testimony, public records and church statements, independent investigations by media and legal experts, official church documents and canonical proceedings, testimony, depositions, and court-ordered documents from criminal and civil cases.