PENNSYLVANIA
Tribune-Review
NATASHA LINDSTROM | Wednesday, March 22, 2017
A Beaver County priest accused two years ago of child sexual abuse will retire following a Vatican ruling that the allegation “has not been proven,” the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh said Wednesday.
The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith decided there was not enough evidence to prove the Rev. John “Jack” P. Fitzgerald abused a child in the late 1990s.
“It could not be determined with certainty whether the abuse did or did not occur,” the Pittsburgh diocese said in a statement.
Fitzgerald, 68, whose last assignment was pastor of Our Lady of Peace Parish in Conway, has been on administrative leave and prohibited from administering sacraments or identifying himself as a priest since July 31, 2014.
Bishop David Zubik now has granted the retirement request from Fitzgerald, who once served as chaplain at Pittsburgh International Airport and an Air National Guard station.
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