Rome (CNN) The Vatican has dismissed former US cardinal Theodore McCarrick after a church trial found him guilty of sexually abusing minors.

McCarrick, who once led the Archdiocese of Washington and was recognized as a powerful advocate of the Catholic Church's political priorities in the United States, becomes the highest-ranking Catholic figure to be expelled from the priesthood over the sex abuse crisis that has roiled the church in recent decades.

The judgment was recognized by the Pope to be of a "definitive nature," a Vatican statement said, and is "res iudicata" -- meaning it is no longer subject to appeal. McCarrick was informed of the decision Friday.

Since 2015, Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of at least five American bishops after allegations they mishandled clergy abuse cases or were themselves accused of misconduct. McCarrick, the sixth to be disciplined, was by far the most notorious and is the only one to be laicized, or defrocked.

The punishment means that McCarrick, who is 88 and lives in a friary in Kansas, can no longer present himself as a priest or celebrate the sacraments. Pope Francis ordered the former cardinal to live a cloistered life of "prayer and penance" last summer. Since the church is no longer required to provide for his welfare, it is unclear how the aging and disgraced former churchman will support himself.

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