Pope's role in disgraced cardinal's funeral draws outrage

ABC ^ | December 21, 2017 | CNN news

[buffyt]

Pope Francis is expected to give the final blessing at the funeral Thursday of Cardinal Bernard Law, the former Boston archbishop who resigned in disgrace during the Catholic Church's sex-abuse scandal, prompting outrage from abuse survivors.

Francis' prominent role in the ceremony has fueled the controversy over the decision to grant Law a full cardinal's funeral at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.

The story was made into a celebrated movie, Spotlight, and the scandal forced the Catholic church to rethink the way it dealt with child abuse in the church.

'Gates of hell wide open' Alexa MacPherson, a native of the Boston area who says she is a survivor of sexual abuse by a priest, responded angrily Wednesday. "With his passing, I say I hope the gates of hell are open wide to welcome him, because I feel no redemption for somebody like him is worthwhile," she told reporters.

Robert Costello, another Boston-area native, says that Law covered up for the cleric who abused him. Instead of being given a Vatican funeral, Law should just "disappear," he told reporters in the Boston office of attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents many who accuse priests of sex abuse.

Law never faced criminal sanctions for his role in allowing abusive priests to remain in parishes. The scandal reverberated through the church, exposing similar allegations worldwide that compromised its moral authority and led to years of multimillion-dollar settlements.

[Lurker]

“using it to shut down the entire Roman Catholic Church is outside its scope and not a feasible legal strategy.”

Too bad.

L