BOSTON (MA)
Boston Herald
Monday, March 24, 2014
By: Priyanka Dayal McCluskey
The national spotlight has focused on Boston’s humble, soft-spoken Cardinal Sean O’Malley, now emerging as the pope’s closest ally in North America, poised to influence the future of the church well beyond Boston and to be the voice of American Catholics in Rome.
Highlighted in recent reports such as a front page USA Today article yesterday that suggested he is “the most powerful Catholic in America,” the cardinal went about his business yesterday, devoting his attention to the plight of immigrants, without addressing the talk swirling around him about his close relationship with the new pope.
Already part of Pope Francis’ inner circle, O’Malley was named to a new Vatican commission on sex abuse over the weekend, making him the only American in the eight-member group.
“We’re happy the commission is developing,” O’Malley told reporters in brief remarks yesterday. “It’s a great need for the church, and I’m honored to be asked to be a part of it.” …
Abuse victims say neither O’Malley nor the church has done enough. Barbara Blaine, president and founder of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the pope’s new anti-abuse commission looks like a public relations stunt — but said she welcomes O’Malley’s addition to the group if he can prompt the pope to punish abusive priests and the bishops who conceal them.
“We would encourage Cardinal O’Malley to insist that other bishops at least do what he has done,” including publicly posting the names of known sexual predators, Blaine said.
O’Malley’s growing status among Vatican advisers means he may be spending less time in Boston and more in Rome — and that he’ll effectively be the voice of Catholic America.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.