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Breaking News
Cardinal Law Resigns, Pope Accepts
Aired December 13, 2002 - 06:03 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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back to our lead story now. We have breaking news this morning. Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law has resigned. Pope John Paul II has accepted Law's resignation. It happened literally about five minutes ago. As you know, Law has been caught up in that huge sex scandal in his archdiocese.
In addition to that, Cardinal Law may soon have to answer questions from a Massachusetts grand jury investigating the child sex abuse scandal. The leader of the Boston Archdiocese has been subpoenaed, along with seven bishops.
The Massachusetts attorney general accuses the church of an elaborate cover up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a cover up. It was an elaborate scheme to keep it away from law enforcement and to keep it quiet. The church or the leadership of the church -- and this is a leadership problem, this is a management problem, this is not a faith problem -- felt that it was more important to protect the church than children. And as a result of that, needless numbers -- countless numbers of children were harmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And the harm done to those children has now led to today's day of reckoning in Rome. We have a number of live reports for you from Rome, from Boston, and we're also going to talk to this lay group that has been petitioning for Law's resignation.
First, though, we want to head to Rome and the Vatican and check in again with Delia Gallagher for an update.
This meeting with the pope didn't take long, did it?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: No, it didn't, and in fact, it's assumed that the news was already prepared by this morning. The pope had agreed to accept the cardinal's resignation.
Now, we should say that along with the official notification of the resignation came a statement from Cardinal Law apologizing for his shortcomings and his mistakes, and if those shortcomings made others suffer, he begged for their forgiveness.
So, on top of the resignation, we have an official apology from Cardinal Law.
COSTELLO: And what happens next now? The pope has appointed an interim leader for the Archdiocese of Boston. Who is it?
GALLAGHER: Well, that is Richard Lennon. He is the auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese, so presumably, he is the man best able at this point to administrate the diocese. It does mean that he becomes archbishop, but it means that for temporary measures, he will be taking control of the diocese.
COSTELLO: Another question that I'm wondering about. Cardinal Law offered to resign before. The pope did not accept his resignation. Why did he accept it this time?
GALLAGHER: Well, that's the question everybody's asking. But the answer seems fairly clear that in April, the pope gave the cardinal a mandate to go back to his diocese and see what he could do. Nine months have ensued, and there has been no resolution. In fact, the problem has gotten even more difficult.
So, it's clear that the pope understood the gravity of the situation, and that the cardinal's presence in the archdiocese was doing the church as a whole no good.
COSTELLO: Now, I know that the cardinal has to come back here and answer a number of legal questions. He has depositions scheduled to be taken in the Paul Shanley case, and he's also set to appear before a secret grand jury investigating criminal charges against the church. But what will happen to him within the church, within the Vatican? Will they offer a job to him, let's say?
GALLAGHER: Well, absolutely. It's important to make the distinction that he remains a cardinal. He has resigned from being the archbishop of Boston, but he will be a cardinal until he dies. So, he will be given another position in the church. In fact, the pope holds this cardinal, despite all of the problems, in high esteem. So, it's very likely that the pope and the Vatican will attempt to find him another position within the American church. There is a possibility that he would come over to Rome and work here in the Curia, but I think that's a long shot.
In the short term, he will have to answer the charges in Boston, he will have to take a break and let the furor die down, and in the long term, we'll see him back at work certainly in some administrative capacity.
COSTELLO: Delia, give us some historical perspective. Has this sort of thing ever happened before?
GALLAGHER: Well, cardinals do resign. The latest case was the cardinal of Vienna, who resigned because of molestation charges brought against him. In Europe, of course, there tends to be less media attention on these issues. And of course, nothing like what the states has experienced in the past year has ever been experienced in any country.
So, the fact that the cardinal has resigned at this point doesn't come as much of a surprise to many of us over here, although it is not historically something that the Vatican likes to do, to accept resignations from bishops or cardinals.
COSTELLO: Oh, definitely. I want to ask you about the bankruptcy issue, because I know that the cardinal was going to ask the pope, too, whether the Boston Archdiocese should declare bankruptcy in light of all of these claims against it.
GALLAGHER: Well, that's presumably an issue that he discussed in his Curial meetings -- that is with other Vatican officials this week. It wouldn't really be something for the pope to decide.
And the word from those meetings is that they did encourage the cardinal not to declare bankruptcy. The church, and the Vatican in particular, is very concerned about any possible interference on the part of governments with the church, and they would not look kindly on a diocese that went into bankruptcy, unless strictly necessary.
COSTELLO: Do you think the pope will come out and say anything publicly about this?
GALLAGHER: Well, I think that the pope has made allusions to the crisis, and certainly he will not say anything publicly about the cardinal himself. The pope always speaks a bit more generally than that. But we can be sure that in the next few days, the allusions to the crisis will come back up in some of his speeches.
COSTELLO: Oh, I can only imagine. Delia, we're going to let you go.
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 - 06:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We want to get back to our lead story now. We have breaking news this morning. Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law has resigned. Pope John Paul II has accepted Law's resignation. It happened literally about five minutes ago. As you know, Law has been caught up in that huge sex scandal in his archdiocese.
In addition to that, Cardinal Law may soon have to answer questions from a Massachusetts grand jury investigating the child sex abuse scandal. The leader of the Boston Archdiocese has been subpoenaed, along with seven bishops.
The Massachusetts attorney general accuses the church of an elaborate cover up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was a cover up. It was an elaborate scheme to keep it away from law enforcement and to keep it quiet. The church or the leadership of the church -- and this is a leadership problem, this is a management problem, this is not a faith problem -- felt that it was more important to protect the church than children. And as a result of that, needless numbers -- countless numbers of children were harmed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And the harm done to those children has now led to today's day of reckoning in Rome. We have a number of live reports for you from Rome, from Boston, and we're also going to talk to this lay group that has been petitioning for Law's resignation.
First, though, we want to head to Rome and the Vatican and check in again with Delia Gallagher for an update.
This meeting with the pope didn't take long, did it?
DELIA GALLAGHER, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: No, it didn't, and in fact, it's assumed that the news was already prepared by this morning. The pope had agreed to accept the cardinal's resignation.
Now, we should say that along with the official notification of the resignation came a statement from Cardinal Law apologizing for his shortcomings and his mistakes, and if those shortcomings made others suffer, he begged for their forgiveness.
So, on top of the resignation, we have an official apology from Cardinal Law.
COSTELLO: And what happens next now? The pope has appointed an interim leader for the Archdiocese of Boston. Who is it?
GALLAGHER: Well, that is Richard Lennon. He is the auxiliary bishop in the archdiocese, so presumably, he is the man best able at this point to administrate the diocese. It does mean that he becomes archbishop, but it means that for temporary measures, he will be taking control of the diocese.
COSTELLO: Another question that I'm wondering about. Cardinal Law offered to resign before. The pope did not accept his resignation. Why did he accept it this time?
GALLAGHER: Well, that's the question everybody's asking. But the answer seems fairly clear that in April, the pope gave the cardinal a mandate to go back to his diocese and see what he could do. Nine months have ensued, and there has been no resolution. In fact, the problem has gotten even more difficult.
So, it's clear that the pope understood the gravity of the situation, and that the cardinal's presence in the archdiocese was doing the church as a whole no good.
COSTELLO: Now, I know that the cardinal has to come back here and answer a number of legal questions. He has depositions scheduled to be taken in the Paul Shanley case, and he's also set to appear before a secret grand jury investigating criminal charges against the church. But what will happen to him within the church, within the Vatican? Will they offer a job to him, let's say?
GALLAGHER: Well, absolutely. It's important to make the distinction that he remains a cardinal. He has resigned from being the archbishop of Boston, but he will be a cardinal until he dies. So, he will be given another position in the church. In fact, the pope holds this cardinal, despite all of the problems, in high esteem. So, it's very likely that the pope and the Vatican will attempt to find him another position within the American church. There is a possibility that he would come over to Rome and work here in the Curia, but I think that's a long shot.
In the short term, he will have to answer the charges in Boston, he will have to take a break and let the furor die down, and in the long term, we'll see him back at work certainly in some administrative capacity.
COSTELLO: Delia, give us some historical perspective. Has this sort of thing ever happened before?
GALLAGHER: Well, cardinals do resign. The latest case was the cardinal of Vienna, who resigned because of molestation charges brought against him. In Europe, of course, there tends to be less media attention on these issues. And of course, nothing like what the states has experienced in the past year has ever been experienced in any country.
So, the fact that the cardinal has resigned at this point doesn't come as much of a surprise to many of us over here, although it is not historically something that the Vatican likes to do, to accept resignations from bishops or cardinals.
COSTELLO: Oh, definitely. I want to ask you about the bankruptcy issue, because I know that the cardinal was going to ask the pope, too, whether the Boston Archdiocese should declare bankruptcy in light of all of these claims against it.
GALLAGHER: Well, that's presumably an issue that he discussed in his Curial meetings -- that is with other Vatican officials this week. It wouldn't really be something for the pope to decide.
And the word from those meetings is that they did encourage the cardinal not to declare bankruptcy. The church, and the Vatican in particular, is very concerned about any possible interference on the part of governments with the church, and they would not look kindly on a diocese that went into bankruptcy, unless strictly necessary.
COSTELLO: Do you think the pope will come out and say anything publicly about this?
GALLAGHER: Well, I think that the pope has made allusions to the crisis, and certainly he will not say anything publicly about the cardinal himself. The pope always speaks a bit more generally than that. But we can be sure that in the next few days, the allusions to the crisis will come back up in some of his speeches.
COSTELLO: Oh, I can only imagine. Delia, we're going to let you go.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.
