Cardinal Urges Vatican to Act on Abuse Cover-up

RTE News
November 15, 2014

http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/1115/659701-sean-omalley/

Cardinal Sean O'Malley was speaking to CBS television

Boston's Cardinal Sean O'Malley has said it is high time for the Vatican to tackle the case of an American bishop convicted of shielding an abusive priest.

In an interview to air tomorrow on CBS television's "60 Minutes" current affairs programme, O'Malley said "the Holy See needs to urgently address" the question of Bishop Robert Finn.

"There is a recognition of that from Pope Francis," added O'Malley.

Cardinal O'Malley is the president of the Pope's new Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, which is leading the church's efforts to recover from the clerical child sexual abuse scandals.

He is also the only American appointed by Francis to his council of nine cardinal advisers from around the world.

Finn is still head of the Catholic diocese in Kansas City, Missouri two years after he pleaded guilty to failing to tell police that one of his priests was sexually abusing a minor.

The Vatican put Finn, who was sentenced to two years under probation, under investigation in September.

But O'Malley said that under the church's zero tolerance policy on sex abuse, Finn "wouldn't be allowed to teach Sunday school in Boston".

The church in the United States has struggled since the 1980s to put allegations of child abuse by members of its clergy behind it, even after paying out nearly $3 billion in compensation payments.