Boston’s Cardinal Law resigns amid sex abuse scandal

BOSTON (MA)
The Arizona Republic

Associated Press
Dec. 13, 2002 02:15 PM

BOSTON – Boston Cardinal Bernard Law became the highest-ranking church leader to be toppled by the furor over decades of lurid behavior by rogue priests, tendering his resignation Friday to a “deeply saddened” Pope John Paul II.

The cardinal begged forgiveness and offered the hope that his departure would help heal his damaged flock. The pope named Bishop Richard G. Lennon, an auxiliary bishop in Boston, to take temporary charge of an archdiocese teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

It was in Boston that the scandal first erupted nearly a year ago, spreading across the country and plunging the U.S. Roman Catholic Church into an unprecedented moral and financial crisis. And it was Law – accused of failing to protect children from known and alleged molesters – who many felt was at the very core of the malignancy.