Posted on 03/15/2013 2:28:15 PM PDT by Hilda
The article, from the somewhat sordid “Daily Mail,” reprints Italian news reports. In pertinent part:
So when the appearance of a disgraced cardinal threatened to cast a shadow over his first engagement, Francis I made sure it couldn’t happen again – by banning him from his own church.
Cardinal Bernard Law resigned as Archbishop of Boston in 2002, after being accused of actively covering up for a litany of paedophile priests.’
Despite the scandal which exploded to engulf the entire church, he was given an honorary position at the Basilica Santa Maria Maggiore, in Rome.
Though now retired, the cardinal still enjoys a grace and favour apartment in the cathedral complex. So hearing that the new Pope was offering prayers at the very same church, it seems he couldn’t resist a discreet peak.
But when Pope Francis recognised him, he immediately ordered that Law be removed, according to Italian media reports. He went on to command: ‘He is not to come to this church any more.’
One of the new Pope’s first acts will be to arrange new ‘cloistered’ accommodation for the disgraced cardinal, the Italian daily, Il Fatto Quotidiano, reported.
Has the cleaning of the Lord’s House begun?
What other questions would he need to 'face'? He stayed in Boston for over a year, during the Attorney General's investigation, giving testimony when asked. He took responsibility for not following up when these priests were mentioned, even though his Auxiliary Bishops were the ones who SHOULD have been directly overseeing the priests. He admitted that he was too 'pastoral' with the men, not concerned enough about the young men who were abused, or young girls in a very few cases.
He has been the only Bishop in the US to resign his office, again, taking responsibility for his inaction. He never faced any charges, and won't face any in the future. In most cases, the majority of which happened before Law came to Boston, the statute of limitations had already run out, so there were no convictions on the older cases. Geoghan was the most recent, and he WAS sent to prison, where he was killed by an inmate.
The Attorney General, in a public news conference, announced that there were no charges that would be filed against Cardinal Law, though he stated he wished there were something they could use against him. So Law isn't 'hiding from justice' in Rome. I think he is just staying as far as he can from Boston in hopes the media won't hound Cardinal O'Malley.
What’s with the attitude? I just gave my (very qualified) recollection. If you are familiar with the facts, a simple recounting would have done. The man who shielded Geoghan and Shanley doesn’t deserve more than that.
I am sincere when I say that if there is enough evidence for a criminal indictment, do it. Neither you nor I would want to shield a pedophilia enabler.
I guess I must have read about 15 times on FR that Law was sprinting to the Vatican just ahead of the process-server. I get a little snippy having to correct the same factual errors over and over.. I don't blame you, of course. Once the meme is out there, it's repeated endlessly. It's hard to track down what happened and what didn't.
“Law and Connolly had left Boston for Washington just hours before state troopers assigned to the office of Mass. Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly arrived in Brighton with subpoenas seeking the grand jury testimony of Law and six other bishops who presided over what Reilly has called a massive coverup of child abuse.”
“The beginning of the end may have been Nov. 25, when Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney declared that the archdiocese’s records contradicted Law’s sworn testimony that he and his aides did not return some abusive priests to parish work without first determining that they posed no risk to children. Not only did the judge suggest the cardinal was lying, she ordered the release of 11,000 pages of church documents about the abusive actions of priests, and the actions of the cardinal and others to hide those crimes from public view.” [BTW the judge who ordered the release of the documents is a practicing Catholic, as is the AG. They both went to the same high school along with the editor of the Globe who is now on the faculty of Notre Dame. These are not anti-Catholic zealots.]
“On Dec. 3, lawyers for alleged victims released the first 2,200 pages of the 11,000 Sweeney ruled on. The documents portrayed a rogue’s gallery of priests who fondled teenagers preparing to be nuns, traded drugs for sex with minors, beat up their housekeepers, and fathered children.
http://www.boston.com/globe/spotlight/abuse/stories3/121402_final_days.htm
There seems to be a dispute here on to points of fact:
SuzyQ, have you a link?
Ladyjane, have you an explanation?
Thanks for the links LadyJane.
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I believe it was only after that time that he went to Rome, for good, to take up his position at St. Mary Major Basilica, which was already 'his' Church in Rome. Most, if not all, of the active Cardinals have a Church for which they are 'Pastors'. He was active Pastor there until he reached the age of 80, at which time he was no longer an active Cardinal. Now he is 'Pastor Emeritus' at St. Mary Major, where the supposed kerfuffle occurred.
Everyone knew where Bernie Law was; if there had been a warrant out on him, he could have been picked up at any time.
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