When it came time to describe a priest's homemade footage of "'partially naked' boys in a state of sexual arousal," the top Catholic cleric in Los Angeles told his parishioners one thing, and his superiors at the Vatican another.The paper says Cardinal Roger Mahony sent a letter to Rome in April 2005 that described the contents of the tape and said it constituted "objective verification that criminal behavior did occur."
Six months later, "in what Mahony told parishioners was the "fullest possible disclosure" about the scandal, he reported that a videotape had been discovered in 1992 in Caffoe's bedroom, depicting 'improper behavior' with high school boys. But the cardinal said the boys were 'fully clothed' and there was no sexual activity."
A church lawyer said he didn't see any contradiction between the public statement and his letter to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who is now Pope Benedict XVI.
"Let me be very clear on this: The cardinal did not turn over this information willingly," an attorney for the priest's alleged victims tells the paper.
"He was forced to by the courts. It is only because of this civil lawsuit filed by these brave victims that we uncovered all the salacious details about what the archdiocese knew about Father Caffoe molesting children."
Caffoe, who has not been charged with a crime, was suspended from the ministry amid multiple allegations that he had inappropriate contact with children.
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