Disgraced Former Boston Archbishop Retires From Vatican

Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in 2002 as Boston’s archbishop amid the priest sexual abuse scandal, has retired from his job as the head of a prominent church in Rome.

Law’s appointment as archpriest of St. Mary Major basilica in 2004 was harshly criticized by victims of the sexual abuse scandal, who felt that Law should have been more harshly punished for his part in the cover up of abuses.

“I’m relieved that he is finally going to be out of that position. It would have been better had he been fired. He should have been fired many years ago,” Ann Hagan Webb, the New England coordinator of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said. “We have always been very upset that the Vatican rewarded him with this cushy job in Rome.”

The 80-year-old Law is named in hundreds of lawsuits accusing him personally of failing to protect children from predatory priests and is the first and only U.S. bishop to resign over the mishandling of the sexual abuse scandal.

John Allen of the National Catholic Reporter joins us to talk about Cardinal Law’s retirement.

Guests:

• John Allen, senior correspondent, National Catholic Reporter