Bishop is retiring
Cleared in perv probe
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio is retiring from his post as the leader of the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, just weeks after being cleared of sexualabuse allegations made by two men who said the incidents happened when they were younger.
The diocese announced DiMarzio’s resignation Wednesday as Pope Francis accepted his departure.
DiMarzio, who turned 75 on June 16, 2019, submitted his resignation on that date as required by Canon Law, and the pontiff signed off on it Wednesday, the diocese said.
Pope Francis appointed Bishop Robert Brennan of Columbus, Ohio, to take over DiMarzio’s role, the diocese said.
The resignation comes after DiMarzio (inset) was cleared on Sept. 1 by an investigation coordinated by the neighboring Archdiocese of New York following allegations by two men who separately claimed DiMarzio had abused them a half-century ago when he was a priest in New Jersey.
The sexual-abuse allegations were found “not to have the semblance of truth,” according to a press release from the Archdiocese of New York.
Attorney Mitchell Garabedian, who represents the two men, said in a statement that DiMarzio’s retirement “will not prevent the two separate civil lawsuits against Bishop DiMarzio from proceeding.”
“The recent finding of the Vatican clearing Bishop DiMarzio of sexual abuse was the result of a biased investigation rendered by a self-serving Vatican court with a predetermined agenda,” Garabedian said.
At a Wednesday press conference, DiMarzio said his retirement “obviously” had “nothing to do with the investigation” and defended those who conducted the probe.
“The investigation, as we know, was conducted by a former prosecutor and a firm headed by a former head of the FBI,” he said. “So, I think they put their reputations on the line. I think that investigation was second to none. And it found that there was no evidence of any kind of abuse.”
Brennan, DiMarzio’s successor, told reporters that “the reality of child abuse and of sex abuse is absolutely horrendous.”
“It’s intolerable, and it’s something that we are working hard to fight. First of all in preventing it from ever happening again,” Brennan, 59, a Bronx native, said.