Do you have a point? Make it.
“Do you have a point? Make it.”
Resignation as Archbishop of Boston[edit]
In April 2002, following the Boston Globe’s public exposure of the cover up by Cardinal Law (and his predecessor Humberto Cardinal Medeiros) of scores of pedophile priests in the Boston Archdiocese, Law consulted with Pope John Paul II and other Vatican officials and said he was committed to staying on as archbishop and addressing the scandal: “It is my intent to address at length the record of the Archdiocese’s handling of these cases by reviewing the past in as systematic and comprehensive way as possible, so that legitimate questions which have been raised might be answered.”[26] Law submitted his resignation as Archbishop of Boston to the Vatican, which Pope John Paul II accepted on December 13, 2002.[25] Law wrote in a personal declaration, “The particular circumstances of this time suggest a quiet departure. Please keep me in your prayers.”[27] and moved to Rome. In July 2003, Seán Patrick O’Malley, O.F.M. Cap. was named the new Archbishop of Boston.[28] The Boston Globe said in an editorial the day after Law’s resignation was accepted that “Law had become the central figure in a scandal of criminal abuse, denial, payoff, and coverup that resonates around the world”.[25] A letter urging Law’s resignation had been signed by 58 priests, mostly diocesan priests who had sworn obedience to Law as their direct superior; the editorial said that this letter was “surely one of the precipitating events in his departure”.[29] The Globe’s exposé of the scandal was the subject of an Oscar-winning film, Spotlight released in the United States in November 2015, in which Law was portrayed by Len Cariou.[24]
In a statement, Cardinal Law said, “It is my fervent prayer that this action [his resignation] may help the Archdiocese of Boston to experience the healing, reconciliation and unity which are so desperately needed. To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes I both apologize and from them beg forgiveness.”[30] While no longer Archbishop of Boston, Law remained a bishop and cardinal of the Catholic Church in good standing; as a cardinal, he participated in the 2005 papal conclave.[24] By the time of the 2013 papal conclave, he had become ineligible to vote as he was over the age of 80.[11]
Upon his death in 2017, The Guardian says that Law had become “a symbol of the Roman Catholic Church’s systematic protection of paedophile priests” because of his failure to stop sexual abuse in Boston.[31]
Move to Rome[edit]
Within weeks of his resignation, Law moved from Boston to Rome.[24] When the state attorney general issued his report entitled Child Sexual Abuse in the Archdiocese of Boston (July 23, 2003), he severely criticized Law, mentioning that “the Archdiocese has shown an institutional reluctance to adequately address the problem and, in fact, made choices that allowed the abuse to continue,” but did not allege that Law had tried to evade investigation.[24] He said that Cardinal Law had not broken any laws, because the law requiring abuse to be reported was not expanded to include priests until 2002.[32]
Law was a member of the Congregations for the Oriental Churches, the Clergy, Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, Evangelisation of Peoples, Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Catholic Education, Bishops as well as the Pontifical Council for the Family.[24][33] He held membership in all these congregations and of the council before resigning from the governance of the Archdiocese of Boston, and at that time was also a member of the Pontifical Council for Culture.[34] He became even more influential in those Vatican congregations and, being based in Rome, he could attend all their meetings, unlike cardinals based in other countries.[33]
In May 2004, Pope John Paul II appointed Law to a post in Rome, as Archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, a sinecure with only ceremonial duties.[35] Some saw this an attempt to shield Law from potential criminal prosecution as his new position conveyed citizenship in Vatican City. [36]
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