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American Morning
Boston's Cardinal Law Resigns
Aired December 13, 2002 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The news from Vatican City today, Boston's Cardinal Law stepping down, issuing his resignation, accepted by the pope; the announcement again about two hours ago.
Two reports thus far today. Bill Delaney is watching things in Boston for reaction there. About two million Catholics in that archdiocese.
First, though, to Vatican City, Delia Gallagher is on the scene there as well, and she's been watching things. Let's start in Vatican City.
Good morning.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
Well, yes, just about an hour-and-a-half ago, the pope and the cardinal met. It is official, Cardinal Law has resigned as archbishop of Boston. The Vatican has said only that the pope accepted the resignation and has put an auxiliary bishop, Richard Lennon, in place as an administrator of the archdiocese for the moment.
The cardinal issued a statement in which, as you know, he said: "To all of those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes, I both apologize, and from them beg forgiveness. To the bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laity, with whom I have been privileged to work in our efforts to fulfill the church's mission, I express my deep gratitude."
In this statement, the cardinal also says that the circumstances of his leaving require a quiet departure. So, we are expecting, as we've seen after his meeting with the pope, that he will be staying away from the spotlight -- Bill.
HEMMER: Delia, hang on one second there in Vatican City. A reaction from Boston now, Bill Delaney has been working the phones there.
Bill -- good morning.
BILL DELANEY, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Bill, here's the document, the news release from the Archdiocese of Boston, in which Cardinal Law announces that the pope has accepted his resignation.
As the two million Catholics of Boston woke up this morning, turning on their televisions and radios, many of them no doubt immensely relieved; many of them also no doubt stunned that it is finally over, 10 months, 11 months of daily being besieged by more and more word of a diocese really in freefall, particularly in just the past two weeks.
As thousands of new pages of documents were released, Bill, the extent of this crisis seemed to hit people as never before. Yes, we'd had individual priests focused on in past months, things unbelievable to most Catholics here put out in the pubic eye, but these thousands of pages of new documents really the straw that broke the camel's back and ultimately led to the archbishop's resignation.
Now, I just want to add quickly. The emotion I think most Catholics will be feeling here, Bill: relief. The motion I think Archbishop Law will be feeling as well, the same one: relief. He must feel an immense sense of relief that this burden, in however much of a shameful situation as he may see it, is finally being lifted from his shoulders -- Bill.
HEMMER: Bill, Sunday, 58 priests in the area signing a letter, asking for Cardinal Law to step down. Did that put added pressure? Could this man still lead that church with the number of priests coming public and saying it's time to go?
DELANEY: Well, you know, there was a lot -- there was some speculation here from people who've long studied and dealt with the Vatican that that might actually backfire, that these 58 priests who signed this petition, that might be seen by the Vatican as such a threat to their authority that they might take a stand and say, well, no, we're not going to act under that kind of pressure.
But having said that, sure, it would seem that such an unprecedented, really spectacular move by priests, many of whom had been ordained by Archbishop Law themselves, for them to call for their cardinal's resignation, yes, just another nail in the coffin, if you will, of Cardinal Law's 18-year tenure here in Boston.
HEMMER: Bill, thank you.
Back to Vatican City and Delia.
For many months now, we have talked about the Vatican essentially putting an arm-length out in keeping the American Catholic Church away from it. At what point did the Vatican realize it could not separate itself from this situation in Boston, or throughout America for that matter?
GALLAGHER: Well, of course, I think they'd gotten more involved just in the last few months, especially with the mixed commission after the document was decided in June at the bishop's conference. The Vatican looked over that document and decided that they really needed to have a more hands-on approach in this issue. But in the initial stages, they wanted to allow the American Bishop's Conference to deal with the problem.
Now, of course, with the resignation of Cardinal Law, that's not so much seen as a Vatican interference. It was the cardinal himself and the circumstances in his archdiocese, which for the past nine months since he was here last April have not improved. So, it's simply a response to that.
The Vatican's overwhelming consideration is what they call the good of the church, and that would be the pope's consideration that the cardinal -- yes, Bill.
HEMMER: You can continue. Delia, are you still with us?
GALLAGHER: That a cardinal should stay -- yes, a cardinal should stay in his position, but when the archdiocese becomes threatened to such an extent that it becomes a problem for the whole church, that's when the pope took this unusual measure to allow his resignation -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Delia, thanks -- Delia Gallagher in Vatican City, thanks to Bill Delaney in Boston.
8:00 a.m. -- if you've been watching the bottom of your screen, at 8:00 a.m., there's going to be a briefing out of Boston. We'll get the latest reaction from the church there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
Aired December 13, 2002 - 07:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The news from Vatican City today, Boston's Cardinal Law stepping down, issuing his resignation, accepted by the pope; the announcement again about two hours ago.
Two reports thus far today. Bill Delaney is watching things in Boston for reaction there. About two million Catholics in that archdiocese.
First, though, to Vatican City, Delia Gallagher is on the scene there as well, and she's been watching things. Let's start in Vatican City.
Good morning.
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Good morning, Bill.
Well, yes, just about an hour-and-a-half ago, the pope and the cardinal met. It is official, Cardinal Law has resigned as archbishop of Boston. The Vatican has said only that the pope accepted the resignation and has put an auxiliary bishop, Richard Lennon, in place as an administrator of the archdiocese for the moment.
The cardinal issued a statement in which, as you know, he said: "To all of those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes, I both apologize, and from them beg forgiveness. To the bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laity, with whom I have been privileged to work in our efforts to fulfill the church's mission, I express my deep gratitude."
In this statement, the cardinal also says that the circumstances of his leaving require a quiet departure. So, we are expecting, as we've seen after his meeting with the pope, that he will be staying away from the spotlight -- Bill.
HEMMER: Delia, hang on one second there in Vatican City. A reaction from Boston now, Bill Delaney has been working the phones there.
Bill -- good morning.
BILL DELANEY, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, Bill, here's the document, the news release from the Archdiocese of Boston, in which Cardinal Law announces that the pope has accepted his resignation.
As the two million Catholics of Boston woke up this morning, turning on their televisions and radios, many of them no doubt immensely relieved; many of them also no doubt stunned that it is finally over, 10 months, 11 months of daily being besieged by more and more word of a diocese really in freefall, particularly in just the past two weeks.
As thousands of new pages of documents were released, Bill, the extent of this crisis seemed to hit people as never before. Yes, we'd had individual priests focused on in past months, things unbelievable to most Catholics here put out in the pubic eye, but these thousands of pages of new documents really the straw that broke the camel's back and ultimately led to the archbishop's resignation.
Now, I just want to add quickly. The emotion I think most Catholics will be feeling here, Bill: relief. The motion I think Archbishop Law will be feeling as well, the same one: relief. He must feel an immense sense of relief that this burden, in however much of a shameful situation as he may see it, is finally being lifted from his shoulders -- Bill.
HEMMER: Bill, Sunday, 58 priests in the area signing a letter, asking for Cardinal Law to step down. Did that put added pressure? Could this man still lead that church with the number of priests coming public and saying it's time to go?
DELANEY: Well, you know, there was a lot -- there was some speculation here from people who've long studied and dealt with the Vatican that that might actually backfire, that these 58 priests who signed this petition, that might be seen by the Vatican as such a threat to their authority that they might take a stand and say, well, no, we're not going to act under that kind of pressure.
But having said that, sure, it would seem that such an unprecedented, really spectacular move by priests, many of whom had been ordained by Archbishop Law themselves, for them to call for their cardinal's resignation, yes, just another nail in the coffin, if you will, of Cardinal Law's 18-year tenure here in Boston.
HEMMER: Bill, thank you.
Back to Vatican City and Delia.
For many months now, we have talked about the Vatican essentially putting an arm-length out in keeping the American Catholic Church away from it. At what point did the Vatican realize it could not separate itself from this situation in Boston, or throughout America for that matter?
GALLAGHER: Well, of course, I think they'd gotten more involved just in the last few months, especially with the mixed commission after the document was decided in June at the bishop's conference. The Vatican looked over that document and decided that they really needed to have a more hands-on approach in this issue. But in the initial stages, they wanted to allow the American Bishop's Conference to deal with the problem.
Now, of course, with the resignation of Cardinal Law, that's not so much seen as a Vatican interference. It was the cardinal himself and the circumstances in his archdiocese, which for the past nine months since he was here last April have not improved. So, it's simply a response to that.
The Vatican's overwhelming consideration is what they call the good of the church, and that would be the pope's consideration that the cardinal -- yes, Bill.
HEMMER: You can continue. Delia, are you still with us?
GALLAGHER: That a cardinal should stay -- yes, a cardinal should stay in his position, but when the archdiocese becomes threatened to such an extent that it becomes a problem for the whole church, that's when the pope took this unusual measure to allow his resignation -- Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Delia, thanks -- Delia Gallagher in Vatican City, thanks to Bill Delaney in Boston.
8:00 a.m. -- if you've been watching the bottom of your screen, at 8:00 a.m., there's going to be a briefing out of Boston. We'll get the latest reaction from the church there.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
