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Boston's Cardinal Law Resigns
Aired December 13, 2002 - 13:03 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.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It's finally over for Boston's Cardinal Law. And while his decision to quit is being welcomed, it's not the end of the crisis in the Catholic church.
As others point out, it doesn't erase the damage done to the victims of predatory priests.
CNN's Bill Delaney is standing by now in Boston to give us the latest. Hi, Bill.
BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you know, so many forces played into Pope John Paul II's decision to remove, finally, Cardinal Law from the archbishop here in Boston.
There were petitions from priests here, 58 of them calling for the resignation. There were lay groups that called for his resignation after holding back for months at a time. And just a week ago, criminal subpoenas that will lead to Cardinal Law and other bishops around the country being brought to testify before a grand jury.
In any event, having offered to resign in April, this time Pope John Paul II accepted Cardinal Law's offer to resign.
And Cardinal Law said this in a letter to the Catholics of the archdiocese of Boston, among other things, "To all 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."
And that text beginning, Kyra, by the way, with "I am profoundly grateful to the Holy Father for accepting my resignation."
Relief here among Catholics in Boston, there are two million of them, relief, no doubt, for Cardinal Law, too. He will be now removed as archbishop here; an apostolic administrator, it's called, will be put in place to do all his duties. That apostolic administrator is the present auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Boston, Richard Lennon.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Bill Delaney, live from Boston. Thank you so much.
Well, more reaction now from Boston. It comes from some of the people involved in the suits against the church for the alleged acts of sexual abuse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MITCHELL GARABEDIAN, PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEY: Just because Bernard Cardinal Law resigned doesn't mean everything's okay now. There's enormous rot, enormous decay within the archdiocese of Boston. We have all seen that for years. And now it has to cleanse itself. And this isn't going to be a magic wand, where everything's okay now, all of a sudden, it's going to be Monday morning and it will be fine.
CHRISTOPHER FULCHINO, ALLEGED ABUSE VICTIM: It's the start of healing. The start to healing myself, and all these people over here. I hope people can find the strength to now be strong, and don't be afraid, just like the Fords. Just don't be afraid. Because it just gets better.
And you'll have so much strength from people around you like my dad, like Eric. And every day gets easier for you. And I'm glad that the cardinal did resign. I'm glad that this day has finally come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: One attorney noted that as victims raised allegation over the years, no one seemed to believe them.
Some key milestones in how the crisis in Boston developed.
Bernard Law appointed archbishop in 1984. Years later, in 2001, Cardinal Law defends his handling of abuse allegations. Last April, he reveals that he'd met with the pope and had offered to resign but was told to go to Boston and clean things up.
April 16, the pope summons American cardinals to Rome for an emergency summit on the scandal. And last June, the various scandals trigger a new abuse policy adopted by the bishops.
Then on December 4, Law gets permission to put the archdiocese into bankruptcy s it struggles under the weight of lawsuits and a drop in donations.
Today, of course, Cardinal Law resigned.
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 - 13:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: It's finally over for Boston's Cardinal Law. And while his decision to quit is being welcomed, it's not the end of the crisis in the Catholic church.
As others point out, it doesn't erase the damage done to the victims of predatory priests.
CNN's Bill Delaney is standing by now in Boston to give us the latest. Hi, Bill.
BILL DELANEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, you know, so many forces played into Pope John Paul II's decision to remove, finally, Cardinal Law from the archbishop here in Boston.
There were petitions from priests here, 58 of them calling for the resignation. There were lay groups that called for his resignation after holding back for months at a time. And just a week ago, criminal subpoenas that will lead to Cardinal Law and other bishops around the country being brought to testify before a grand jury.
In any event, having offered to resign in April, this time Pope John Paul II accepted Cardinal Law's offer to resign.
And Cardinal Law said this in a letter to the Catholics of the archdiocese of Boston, among other things, "To all 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."
And that text beginning, Kyra, by the way, with "I am profoundly grateful to the Holy Father for accepting my resignation."
Relief here among Catholics in Boston, there are two million of them, relief, no doubt, for Cardinal Law, too. He will be now removed as archbishop here; an apostolic administrator, it's called, will be put in place to do all his duties. That apostolic administrator is the present auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Boston, Richard Lennon.
Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Bill Delaney, live from Boston. Thank you so much.
Well, more reaction now from Boston. It comes from some of the people involved in the suits against the church for the alleged acts of sexual abuse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MITCHELL GARABEDIAN, PLAINTIFF'S ATTORNEY: Just because Bernard Cardinal Law resigned doesn't mean everything's okay now. There's enormous rot, enormous decay within the archdiocese of Boston. We have all seen that for years. And now it has to cleanse itself. And this isn't going to be a magic wand, where everything's okay now, all of a sudden, it's going to be Monday morning and it will be fine.
CHRISTOPHER FULCHINO, ALLEGED ABUSE VICTIM: It's the start of healing. The start to healing myself, and all these people over here. I hope people can find the strength to now be strong, and don't be afraid, just like the Fords. Just don't be afraid. Because it just gets better.
And you'll have so much strength from people around you like my dad, like Eric. And every day gets easier for you. And I'm glad that the cardinal did resign. I'm glad that this day has finally come.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: One attorney noted that as victims raised allegation over the years, no one seemed to believe them.
Some key milestones in how the crisis in Boston developed.
Bernard Law appointed archbishop in 1984. Years later, in 2001, Cardinal Law defends his handling of abuse allegations. Last April, he reveals that he'd met with the pope and had offered to resign but was told to go to Boston and clean things up.
April 16, the pope summons American cardinals to Rome for an emergency summit on the scandal. And last June, the various scandals trigger a new abuse policy adopted by the bishops.
Then on December 4, Law gets permission to put the archdiocese into bankruptcy s it struggles under the weight of lawsuits and a drop in donations.
Today, of course, Cardinal Law resigned.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
