Word: rome
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...parish to another. By last April, as the scandal over pedophile priests escalated, Law, the most powerful of the American prelates and a favorite of the Vatican's, had come to symbolize the reckless indifference of Roman Catholic Church officials. That was when he first traveled unannounced to Rome to offer his resignation to Pope John Paul II, who quietly refused to accept it. Despite the growing uproar in the U.S., the Vatican was determined not to give the impression that its decisions are swayed by the passions of public opinion...
...months since, with new allegations of clerical abuse emerging almost daily, the passions have only increased. So a heavy shouldered Law, 71, facing a grand jury subpoena and the potential bankruptcy of his archdiocese, went to Rome again last week to tender his resignation. This time it was accepted. And although ecclesiastical changes are sometimes hushed for a while, this one was made public almost at once. Says Scott Appleby, a professor of Catholic history at the University of Notre Dame: "The crisis finally has been acknowledged by Rome to be as serious as most American Catholics have understood...
Soon after the bankruptcy blessing, Law departed discreetly on his second unannounced trip to Rome. In his absence, 58 of the archdiocese's 600 active priests signed a letter calling on him to resign. "If there was a single item that was unprecedented, it was the letter from the priests," says Jim Post, president of Voice of the Faithful, a lay group formed in response to the crisis, which also called for Law to step down last week. "That's the constituency that is always the last to stay and stand with their bishop." Law read the signs. "In April...
...Supreme Court listened to a big case on cross burning, a subject so universally agreed upon so long ago that even Justice Clarence Thomas felt safe enough to talk out loud about it. More amazingly, the Catholic Church convened a two-day conference in Rome to discuss what to do with pedophile priests. You'd think after the first half-hour, when someone said "How about we put them in jail?" they'd all go home. But they kept going, coming up with a long proclamation that somehow was something other than "How about we put them in jail...
...RESIGNED. BERNARD LAW, 71, Cardinal of the Boston Archdio-cese; as the city's archbishop following a meeting with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican; in Rome. Law is the highest-ranking Catholic leader to step down in the wake of a series of sex scandals that have plagued the church...