Catholic Church Sex Abuse Settlement Overshadows Second Day of Papal Conclave

By Matthew Champion
Metro UK
March 13, 2013

http://metro.co.uk/2013/03/13/catholic-church-sex-abuse-settlement-overshadows-second-day-of-papal-conclave-3539249/

Black smoke rises from the chimney on the Sistine Chapel

US cardinal Roger Michael Mahony

Black smoke emerges from the Sistine Chapel chimney last night

Black smoke has emerged from the chimney of the Sistine Chapel, signifying that no new Pope has been chosen after the latest ballot of cardinals.

The smoke billowed out slightly earlier than expected, on the second day of the papal conclave in the Vatican.

As the world waits to find out who cardinals will choose to replace Benedict XVI, who resigned last month, the Catholic Church in Los Angeles has agreed to pay $10million (£6.69million) to four victims of sexual abuse by a priest.

One of those 115 scarlet-robed prelates is Cardinal Roger Mahony, whose former archdiocese in Los Angeles has settled four cases involving child abuse dating back to the mid-1970s.

Confidential documents alleged that now-defrocked priest Michael Baker had informed Cardinal Mahony in 1986 he molested children, but that the then archbishop worked behind the scenes to protect the church from scandal.

He was publicly rebuked by his successor Archbishop Jose Gomez after his retirement in 2011.

Two plaintiffs, a pair of brothers, will be awarded $4million (£2.68million) each, while two other victims will receive $1million (£670,000) each.

Cardinal Mahony removed Baker from his ministry and sent him for psychological treatment, but the priest returned the following year with a doctor’s recommendation that he be defrocked immediately if he spent any time with minors.

Despite several documented instances of being alone with boys, the priest was not removed from his ministry until 2000 after serving in nine parishes.

Baker was convicted of child molestation in 2007 and paroled in 2011. Baker was charged in 2002 with 34 counts of molestation involving six victims, but those charges were dismissed because they fell outside the criminal statute of limitations.

Authorities believe Baker may have abused more than 20 children in his 26-year career.

The archdiocese settled more than 500 clergy abuse lawsuits in 2007 for a record-breaking $660million (£441.7million).

J Michael Hennigan, an archdiocese attorney, said: ‘We have for a long, long time said that we made serious mistakes with Michael Baker, and we had always taken the position in these cases that whatever Baker did we were responsible for.’

Cardinals are set to vote again today, in a day split between mass and prayer, with the winning candidate requiring at least 77 votes.

Benedict’s almost-unprecedented resignation last month due to his advanced age exposed divisions between Vatican-based cardinals and those in the field.

There is no clear favourite to become the 266th Pope, although Italian cardinal Angelo Scola, the archbishop of Milan, is seen as the reforming bloc’s choice, while Brazil’s Odilo Scherer is favoured by Hole See insiders.

As cardinals voted yesterday, tourists and the faithful waited in a rainy St Peter’s Square, which was also graced by topless Femen protesters and nuns singing and playing the guitar.

‘I don’t expect any quick fixes. There will always be problems,’ said Sister Manaoag, from the Philippines.

‘We have to not get stuck with seeing things like factions and problems, but see beyond that. What does God want? This is something we sometimes forget.’