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CNN Sunday Morning

Pope John Paul II Accepts Law's Resignation

Aired December 15, 2002 - 09:02   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: Now to the crisis in the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law Friday, ending Law's 18-year-long tenure as Boston archbishop. Our Boston Bureau Chief Bill Delaney joins us live for the latest on Law's resignation; he is at the Holy Cross Cathedral.
Bill, any word from inside the church on Cardinal Law?

BILL DELANEY, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, no. This is Sunday morning. Inside the church there will be a mass. The church is empty at this point. There is a mass at 11 o'clock, as there always is at Holy Cross Cathedral, usually officiated for so many years now by Cardinal Bernard Law.

Cardinal Bernard Law though, is now the former archbishop of Boston, of course. He returned to the United States yesterday arriving at Newark International Airport, not at Logan International Airport. Arriving in Newark, New Jersey, not certain where he is right now. Not certain whether he's even planning to come back to Boston right away.

He's going away, he said, going to maintain some quiet time for thought and prayer. The former archbishop is saying that he holds no hatred in his heart for anyone.

Now, taking his part -- temporarily as the administrator of this immense archdiocese of 2 million Catholics in Boston -- will be Auxiliary Bishop Richard Lennon. Now, Richard Lennon will officiate at Holy Cross Cathedral here.

We're interested to see whether there's any level of activity outside the church such as we have seen here for 10 months or so now, protests every Sunday. We wouldn't expect protests, although there is still a lot of anger here in Boston. The archbishop may have resigned, an immense event, but the legal proceedings go on.

In the "Boston Globe" this morning, an important piece of information, as far as the possibility of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese here and plaintiffs' attorneys for some 500 alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests, making some sort of a financial settlement that could bring some degree of closure to all the legal activity around here.

The report is that a law firm that counsels the archdiocese did a study of the state of the archdiocese's insurance funds. The archdiocese had always been claiming that it didn't have enough insurance to pay all of the claims against it. Even plaintiffs' attorneys had looked into it and weren't sure how much insurance money there was.

The study concluded, though, that there may be as much as $90 million in insurance. That may be enough to settle claims. That may be enough for the archdiocese to not declare bankruptcy, as it has contemplated, and instead to settle, maybe in coming weeks, with the lawsuits against it.

Back to you.

COSTELLO: We'll see what happens. Bill Delaney, thanks -- Charles.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Cardinal Law's resignation, and the aftermath, are being watched closely by people around the country. Let's get a sample reaction at today's services. We are joined now by our Chicago Bureau Chief Jeff Flock. Jeff has been talking to the parishioners at Chicago's Holy Name parishioners at Holy Name Cathedral.

Jeff, this is, of course, a Boston cardinal, but a national story for Catholics, isn't it?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Oh, absolutely. It has a lot of impact here as well, Charles.

We're in between masses here at Holy Name Cathedral. That's the big church you see behind me, perhaps you can take a look quick look inside. As we said, between masses this morning.

I think parishioners are used to having reporters like me stand out in front of their church all Sunday morning, for a long time, talking about the issues. You know, they may be a little bit sick of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK (on camera): Cardinal Law? What do you make of all of that, that's happened in Boston?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think it's a very good thing he resigned. I think we all feel positive about that. They is a need to sort of clean house. He's been a great disappointment. And he's not like a lot of other bishops who we respect and admire.

FLOCK: And you feel like your bishop, for example, here in Chicago, you have good confidence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do. We're very lucky in Chicago, because Bernadine ...

FLOCK: The former cardinal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. Who was really a great bishop, he sort of anticipated a lot of these troubles, and in the early '90s he set up a number of the things that they're now calling for, like the review board.

FLOCK: He took some steps.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. So, you know, we have been sort of cleaner, so we feel good about that. Yes.

FLOCK: Well, I appreciate your perspective. I'm going to let you get to mass. Thank you for your time this morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: She pointed out, of course, she mentioned Cardinal Joseph Bernadine. He is the man, the highest-ranking church official who was the subject of priest sex abuse allegations. Of course, those allegations were recanted. And I think that has had some an impact here in Chicago. And people are looking a little more carefully at the allegations.

That's the latest from here in Chicago. Charles, Carol, back to you.

MOLINEAUX: OK, thank you, Jeff Flock in Chicago.

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 15, 2002 - 09:02   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Now to the crisis in the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II accepted the resignation of Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law Friday, ending Law's 18-year-long tenure as Boston archbishop. Our Boston Bureau Chief Bill Delaney joins us live for the latest on Law's resignation; he is at the Holy Cross Cathedral.
Bill, any word from inside the church on Cardinal Law?

BILL DELANEY, CNN BOSTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, no. This is Sunday morning. Inside the church there will be a mass. The church is empty at this point. There is a mass at 11 o'clock, as there always is at Holy Cross Cathedral, usually officiated for so many years now by Cardinal Bernard Law.

Cardinal Bernard Law though, is now the former archbishop of Boston, of course. He returned to the United States yesterday arriving at Newark International Airport, not at Logan International Airport. Arriving in Newark, New Jersey, not certain where he is right now. Not certain whether he's even planning to come back to Boston right away.

He's going away, he said, going to maintain some quiet time for thought and prayer. The former archbishop is saying that he holds no hatred in his heart for anyone.

Now, taking his part -- temporarily as the administrator of this immense archdiocese of 2 million Catholics in Boston -- will be Auxiliary Bishop Richard Lennon. Now, Richard Lennon will officiate at Holy Cross Cathedral here.

We're interested to see whether there's any level of activity outside the church such as we have seen here for 10 months or so now, protests every Sunday. We wouldn't expect protests, although there is still a lot of anger here in Boston. The archbishop may have resigned, an immense event, but the legal proceedings go on.

In the "Boston Globe" this morning, an important piece of information, as far as the possibility of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese here and plaintiffs' attorneys for some 500 alleged victims of sexual abuse by priests, making some sort of a financial settlement that could bring some degree of closure to all the legal activity around here.

The report is that a law firm that counsels the archdiocese did a study of the state of the archdiocese's insurance funds. The archdiocese had always been claiming that it didn't have enough insurance to pay all of the claims against it. Even plaintiffs' attorneys had looked into it and weren't sure how much insurance money there was.

The study concluded, though, that there may be as much as $90 million in insurance. That may be enough to settle claims. That may be enough for the archdiocese to not declare bankruptcy, as it has contemplated, and instead to settle, maybe in coming weeks, with the lawsuits against it.

Back to you.

COSTELLO: We'll see what happens. Bill Delaney, thanks -- Charles.

CHARLES MOLINEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Cardinal Law's resignation, and the aftermath, are being watched closely by people around the country. Let's get a sample reaction at today's services. We are joined now by our Chicago Bureau Chief Jeff Flock. Jeff has been talking to the parishioners at Chicago's Holy Name parishioners at Holy Name Cathedral.

Jeff, this is, of course, a Boston cardinal, but a national story for Catholics, isn't it?

JEFF FLOCK, CNN CHICAGO BUREAU CHIEF: Oh, absolutely. It has a lot of impact here as well, Charles.

We're in between masses here at Holy Name Cathedral. That's the big church you see behind me, perhaps you can take a look quick look inside. As we said, between masses this morning.

I think parishioners are used to having reporters like me stand out in front of their church all Sunday morning, for a long time, talking about the issues. You know, they may be a little bit sick of it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK (on camera): Cardinal Law? What do you make of all of that, that's happened in Boston?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think it's a very good thing he resigned. I think we all feel positive about that. They is a need to sort of clean house. He's been a great disappointment. And he's not like a lot of other bishops who we respect and admire.

FLOCK: And you feel like your bishop, for example, here in Chicago, you have good confidence.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do. We're very lucky in Chicago, because Bernadine ...

FLOCK: The former cardinal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. Who was really a great bishop, he sort of anticipated a lot of these troubles, and in the early '90s he set up a number of the things that they're now calling for, like the review board.

FLOCK: He took some steps.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right. So, you know, we have been sort of cleaner, so we feel good about that. Yes.

FLOCK: Well, I appreciate your perspective. I'm going to let you get to mass. Thank you for your time this morning.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FLOCK: She pointed out, of course, she mentioned Cardinal Joseph Bernadine. He is the man, the highest-ranking church official who was the subject of priest sex abuse allegations. Of course, those allegations were recanted. And I think that has had some an impact here in Chicago. And people are looking a little more carefully at the allegations.

That's the latest from here in Chicago. Charles, Carol, back to you.

MOLINEAUX: OK, thank you, Jeff Flock in Chicago.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com