VATICAN CITY
Tribune-Review
By Betsy Hiel
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
VATICAN CITY -- U.S. Cardinal Bernard Law celebrated the third mourning Mass for the late Pope John Paul II on Monday, as two women who said they represent 5,000 victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests protested outside St. Peter's Square.
Cardinal Law, as Boston's archbishop, was accused of covering up sex abuse scandals in his diocese and subsequently resigned as archbishop in 2002.
Barbara Blaine and Barbara Dorris of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests demanded that Law be barred from holding one of nine special Masses for John Paul. Blaine, SNAP's president, called his prominent role an affront to the victims of sexual abuse.
"Cardinal Law is like a poster child for the sex abuse scandal in America," she said, standing in a chilly rain. "When his image is out there as a leader, it just causes pain -- it is like a dagger going into the hearts of the victims and family members."
Posted by kshaw at April 12, 2005 08:07 AM