MINNESOTA
Religion News Service
David Gibson | Dec 17, 2013
(RNS) Twin Cities Archbishop John Nienstedt, already under fire for failing to take action against suspected abusive priests, announced on Tuesday (Dec. 17) that he is stepping aside after a minor accused the outspoken archbishop of touching his buttocks during a group photo after a 2009 confirmation ceremony.
In what he called “a difficult letter for me to write,” Nienstedt says he learned of the allegation over the weekend. He said he does not know the young man, and said he presumes his accuser to be “sincere in believing what he claims.”
But he rejected the charge as “absolutely and entirely false.”
“I normally stand for those photos with one hand on my crozier (staff) and the other either on the right shoulder of the newly confirmed or on my pallium (the short stole), which hangs from my chest,” Nienstedt explained. “I do that deliberately, and there are hundreds of photographs to verify that fact.”
Catholic children can be confirmed between the ages of 7 and 16, after they receive First Communion, though confirmation usually takes place when they are about 13 years old.
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