pope francis accepting retired american cardinal theodore mccaric's offer to resign from the college of cardinals, as the former washington, d.c. archbishop faces sex abuse allegations. kitty logan is in london with the details. kitty. >> reporter: the pope formally accepted the resignation on saturday. the cardinal is one of the the most prominent in the church. the resignation letter was received on friday. historical allegations of sexual abuse date back more than 50 years, first surfaced in june. one man claims mccaric abused him when he was a teenager. another man alleges mccaric forced him into an abusive relationship when he was 11. dithe catholic church was taintd by sex abuse scandals in the past. they're now determined to clean up their image. the vet can says the pope wants to send a strong message that sexual abuse will not be tolerated. >> what this means is no matter