It was one “black Friday” for U.S. cardinal, Bernard Francis Law.
He was confronted by victims of paedophile priests, on the very day he turned 80 (losing the right to vote in the conclave) and just as his successor, Sean Patrick O’Malley was being interviewed by Benedict XVI.
Among the most esteemed members of the conservative section on the Holy See, Law (formerly the U.S. Episcopal Conference’s “minister for foreign affairs”) paid a higher price than others for the American paedophilia scandal, but despite this, he has remained a reference point within the Roman Curia.
The archpriest of the Roman Basilica of Saint Mary Major and former Archbishop of Boston was forced to submit his resignation after the explosion of the paedophilia scandal in America, in 2002.
SNAP (Survivors network of those abused by priests), an American association of victims of paedophile priests, has asked the Pope to expel the cardinal from the Vatican dicasteries of which he is a member.
Cardinal Law is accused of covering up cases of sexual abuse committed by certain priests in his diocese.
On 13 December 2002, he resigned just a few days after leaving Boston for Rome. Boston’s current archbishop is the Capuchin Sean O’Malley.
In 2004, John Paul II appointed Law archpriest of the Roman Basilica of Saint Mary Major. Having reached the age of 80, he now leaves the group of cardinal electors who meet in a Conclave when a Pope dies.
“Benedict XVI has a choice to make,” SNAP wrote in a note. “He can finally recognise, clearly and publicly, the long and well documented affair of deceit, unawareness and insensitivity in relation to the sexual crimes committed by the clergy and their cover-ups. Or he can blot out, or remain in silence or make vague references to Law’s past.”
SNAP also added: “we hope that the Pope will choose to act with compassion and courage, we hope he will take the opportunity to make a small gesture that will help heal the wounds of Catholic victims who have been hurt and betrayed, as a result of the horrible legacy left by a corrupt clergy.”
SNAP had already sent a letter to Benedict XVI on 9 January 2008, to request the resignation of Mgr. Law “from the eight Vatican dicasteries which he is currently a member of.”
Despite his age, the victims’ association wrote, the American cardinal “still plays an important role within the Roman Curia and as a member of the Congregation of Bishops he has a particularly important role in the selection of new prelates.”
The initiative comes in response to the heap of “mea culpas” already pronounced by the Church “for the paedophile or rapist priests,” Barbara Doris, SNAP’s spokeswoman explained: “Prayer is a great thing, it is always positive, but it is a passive way of dealing with things, when what is really needed, is a concrete and efficient initiative.”
In an interview with “L’Osservatore Romano”, the Holy See’s official newspaper, Franciscan cardinal, Claudio Hummes called for people to pray for “the victims of serious cases of bad moral and sexual conduct by a very small section of the clergy,” and defined the opening up of “Eucharistic cenacles to encourage a great spiritual movement of prayer for all priests and their sanctification, a “priority”.”
The then Vatican minister of the Clergy, illustrated why there was such “urgency”, explaining that “problems have always existed because we are all sinners, but certain facts have recently come to our attention, that are very serious.”
Even if “only a tiny part of the clergy is implicated in serious cases, not even 1% of these have anything to do with problems of moral and sexual conduct; the vast majority has nothing whatsoever to do with facts of this kind.”
Yesterday, as the case was being put forward against Law, Benedict XVI was in the process of receiving Law’s successor, Cardinal Sean Patrick O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston and champion of the fight against the sexual abuses committed by clergy in the United States.
The Capuchin cardinal was the first out of America’s bishops to be received in a “visit ad limina”, with the audience being held three days before it was scheduled to take place.
Cardinal O’Malley entered the Pope’s private library, followed by all the prelates of America’s “Region 1”, which includes the dioceses of the State of Massachusetts.
The Pope has a busy schedule ahead of him, as meetings with American bishops will be taking place until next September.
In April 2007, the Archbishop of Boston accompanied victims of abuse to Washington, to a meeting with the Pope and in recent months, O’Malley was sent by the Pope to Ireland, as an Apostolic Visitor.
Since his move to Rome, in the wake of the paedophilia problems in the Archdiocese of Boston, Cardinal Law has been working to foster diplomatic relations between Vietnam and the Vatican.