About the Law's position in Rome:
As I understand it:
Cardinals were originally priests of Rome. To this day, every Cardinal is still assigned a Church in Rome which he is the formal pastor of, and of which a vicar normally runs, Cardinal Law was Cardinal of the diocese which was considered the eldest-daughter of Rome in America, and as such, received a plum assignment: that of St. Mary Major, one of nine churches whose pastor says a eulogy for a deceased Pope.
When Cardinal Law was stripped of his administerial duties for mismanagement, he retained his position of pastor of St. Mary Major, and so it was to there he "retired."
Although the news media regarded his position in the Vatican as if it were some honor he were given after his retirement, it is in truth a position he obtained apon being made Cardinal of Boston.
Law still covered up a great deal of sex abuse. For that reason alone, he should have been kicked to the curb.