Outcry As US Cardinal Who "Covered up Sex Abuse" Will Attend Conclave to Elect New Pope

The Telegraph
February 19, 2013

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/the-pope/9881807/Outcry-as-US-cardinal-who-covered-up-sex-abuse-will-attend-conclave-to-elect-new-Pope.html

Cardinal Mahony posted a message on his Twitter account saying he would defy his critics and turn up for the conclave Photo: AFP

Roger Mahony, 76, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, was last month relieved of all his church duties for allegedly trying to conceal abuse cases involving dozens of priests in the US.

He was stripped of those duties by his successor, Archbishop Jose Gomez, who took over from him in 2011.

Catholics on both sides of the Atlantic said it would be wrong for the disgraced cardinal to attend the conclave, the secretive gathering of cardinals inside the Sistine Chapel which will choose a new pontiff sometime in mid-March.

But Cardinal Mahony posted a message on his Twitter account saying he would defy his critics and turn up for the conclave.

"Countdown to the Papal conclave has begun. Your prayers needed that we elect the best Pope for today and tomorrow's Church," he wrote.

The cardinal is due to be questioned under oath on Feb 23 about how he handled Father Nicolas Aguilar Rivera, a visiting Mexican priest who allegedly molested up to 26 children in the Los Angeles archdiocese in 1987.

There is a growing clamour for him to be excluded from the conclave.

In Italy, an influential Catholic magazine, Famiglia Cristiana set up an online survey in which its readers were asked whether they thought the cardinal should be banned from the gathering in the Vatican.

A majority said he would not be welcome because of his record of shielding priests accused of paedophilia in cases dating back to the 1980s.

"Absolutely not," said one reader, while others wrote: "There's no way he should participate in the conclave", and: "It would be prudent if he stayed at home".

In the US, an association of American Catholics also launched a petition to keep Cardinal Mahony from participating in the conclave.

The petition by Catholics United was entitled "Cardinal Mahony - Stay Home". "Your further implication in the church sex abuse scandal and being barred from public ministry in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles should be an indication to you that you should not attend the next papal conclave," the group said.

"If a Cardinal is stripped of public ministry in his diocese, why should he be rewarded with being allowed to vote for the next pope?" the group asked.

"Cardinal Mahony would further increase the scandal and shame in our Church by attending the conclave."

A fellow cardinal who will take part in the papal election said Cardinal Mahony could be advised to stay away from Rome.

"The common practise is to use persuasion. There is no more that can be done. Cardinal Mahony has the right and duty to take part," Velasio De Paolis, who is also a canon law expert, told La Repubblica newspaper. "This is a troubling situation but the rules must be followed."