PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Tribune-Review
By Tony LaRussa
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, September 22, 2005
A grand jury report on sexually abusive priests in the Philadelphia Archdiocese saved some of its harshest criticism for Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, archbishop from 1988 to 2003 -- accusing him of engaging in a well-planned coverup.
Bevilacqua and his predecessor, the late Cardinal John Krol, knew that priests were involved in "massive amounts of child molestations and sexual assaults" but chose to conceal the abuse rather than notifying police or removing offenders, according to the report released Wednesday.
Prior to being named Archbishop of Philadelphia by the late Pope John Paul II, Bevilacqua served as bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh from December 1983 to February 1988 and was succeeded in Pittsburgh by Bishop Donald Wuerl, who has been known for taking a tough line on priest sex abuse cases.
Criminal charges cannot be brought against the Philadelphia diocese or its priests because of the constraints of state law, including legal time limits, according to the grand jury findings. The diocese also cannot be prosecuted because it is an unincorporated association rather than a corporation.
"The evidence is clear. This reaches the top -- the very top of our archdiocese," Philadelphia District Attorney Lynne Abraham said at a news conference. "Regrettably, the perpetrators of these crimes and the people that protected them will never face the penalties they deserve."