Friday, May 28, 2004
From the frying pan into....the pulpit?
Cardinal Bernard Law. Remember him? He was the leader of the archdiocese in Boston during a huge sexual abuse scandal. He was forced to resign (mainly from public pressure, not so much because the Vatican wanted him to).
The resignation came after nearly a year of revelations that the cardinal and archdiocesan officials that he supervised had repeatedly allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to remain in the ministry.
He's back in the news because he now has a new job.
It made no mention of Cardinal Law's new responsibilities, but a Vatican official said that "now he will be responsible for one of the four most important basilicas" in Rome. "He will be in charge of the administration of the priests and anything related to the basilica," the official said of Cardinal Law. He added that the post "is not a position of power."
He is responsible for one of the four most important basilicas in Rome, but it's not a position of power? That seems counterintuitive.
The appointment is also likely to make Cardinal Law one of the most influential Americans in the Vatican.
And the job will give him considerable autonomy. While at the Maryland convent, he was technically under the authority of the local bishop. Now, "he answers to no one but the pope," the former Vatican official said.
I guess being influential and being beholden only to a 80+ year old man is not the same thing as having any power.
Color me confused.
The resignation came after nearly a year of revelations that the cardinal and archdiocesan officials that he supervised had repeatedly allowed priests accused of sexual abuse to remain in the ministry.
He's back in the news because he now has a new job.
It made no mention of Cardinal Law's new responsibilities, but a Vatican official said that "now he will be responsible for one of the four most important basilicas" in Rome. "He will be in charge of the administration of the priests and anything related to the basilica," the official said of Cardinal Law. He added that the post "is not a position of power."
He is responsible for one of the four most important basilicas in Rome, but it's not a position of power? That seems counterintuitive.
The appointment is also likely to make Cardinal Law one of the most influential Americans in the Vatican.
And the job will give him considerable autonomy. While at the Maryland convent, he was technically under the authority of the local bishop. Now, "he answers to no one but the pope," the former Vatican official said.
I guess being influential and being beholden only to a 80+ year old man is not the same thing as having any power.
Color me confused.
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