Mahony Said Different Things to Vatican, Public? CBS 2, March 20, 2007

Mahony Said Different Things to Vatican, Public?

CBS 2
March 20, 2007

http://cbs2.com/local/local_story_079115456.html

(CBS) Los Angeles — Court records show that at least six months after Cardinal Roger Mahony told the Vatican that a videotape provided proof of a priest's criminal misconduct with high school boys, he told the public the tape showed no sexual activity between Father Lynn Caffoe and the youths, it was reported Tuesday.

Newly filed documents in the Caffoe civil case provide the first glimpse into confidential priest files that Mahony sought for four years to keep sealed in the midst of a sexual abuse scandal that engulfed the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported. He eventually took the secrecy fight to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In a letter to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became pope in April 2005, Mahony said Caffoe had videotaped "partially naked" boys in a state of sexual arousal, according to The Times.

Letter to Vatican Suggest Cardinal Downplayed Sexual Abuse

The tape was "objective verification that criminal behavior did occur," Mahony wrote, according to The Times, which cited papers filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court in a lawsuit by four plaintiffs who allege that Caffoe abused them.

Cardinal Roger Mahony
conducts services In a letter to then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger before he became pope in April 2005, Mahony said Caffoe had videotaped "partially naked" boys in a state of sexual arousal, according to The Times. In October 2005, the cardinal said the boys were "fully clothed" and there was no sexual activity.
AP

In October 2005, in what Mahony told parishioners was the "fullest possible disclosure" about the scandal, he reported a videotape had been discovered in 1992 in Caffoe's bedroom, depicting "improper behavior" with high school boys, The Times reported. But the cardinal said the boys were "fully clothed" and there was no sexual activity.

Since that report, an appellate court ordered Mahony to turn over confidential files to prosecutors, and a Superior Court judge ruled that the files must be given to plaintiffs suing the church for damages for allegedly failing to protect them from pedophile priests.

J. Michael Hennigan, Mahony's lawyer, told The Times he sees no contradiction between Mahony's public statements and the file contents because at the time the cardinal spoke out, the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles was under court order not to reveal the contents of the personnel files.