VATICAN CITY
CBS News
VATICAN CITY, April 10, 2005
(AP) Cardinal Bernard Law, the former archbishop of Boston who stepped down amid a sex abuse scandal, presided at Mass Sunday in Rome's St. Mary Major Basilica, the church where John Paul appointed him archpriest.
On Monday, Law will lead one of the nine daily Masses for the pope at St. Peter's Basilica.
Leaders of the advocacy group the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests said they were flying to Rome to protest, calling Law's presence painful to clergy sexual abuse victims and embarrassing to Catholics. Survivors Network representatives plan to distribute fliers on how Law mishandled abuse cases.
Law resigned as archbishop of Boston in December 2002 after unsealed court records revealed he had allowed priests guilty of abusing children to move among parish assignments and had not notified the public.
"We certainly do not want to cause any additional pain or suffering to anyone attending the memorial service for the Holy Father," Barbara Blaine, the group's founder, said in a phone interview from the United States. "Our concern is that many Catholics going there don't know the history with Cardinal Law and that's why we want to inform them."