PENNSYLVANIA
WTAE
PITTSBURGH —
A priest in the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese will be allowed to retire after the Vatican was unable to prove that he sexually abused a child, the diocese said Wednesday.
The Rev. John P. Fitzgerald, 68, was most recently the pastor at Our Lady of Peace in Conway, Beaver County. He has been on leave since July 31, 2014, because of the abuse allegation.
“It could not be determined with certainty whether the abuse did or did not occur,” the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith said, according to the diocese.
The sex abuse was alleged to have happened in the late 1990s and was reported to the diocese in 2014. The diocese said it also brought the allegation to the district attorneys in Allegheny and Lawrence counties.
“Father Fitzgerald has maintained his innocence throughout. At the same time, the person who brought the allegation has maintained that the abuse did occur,” the diocese said.
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