Pope presides at Cardinal Law funeral
VATICAN CITY » Pope Francis prayed Thursday for a merciful final judgment for Cardinal Bernard Law, presiding over the funeral rites for a man who epitomized the failure of the Catholic Church to protect children from pedophile priests and its arrogance in safeguarding its own reputation at all costs.
In a final blessing at the funeral Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, Francis blessed Law’s coffin with incense and holy water, reciting the ritual prayer commending Law’s soul to God.
The dean of the college of cardinals, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, celebrated the funeral Mass and eulogized Law without making any mention of the scandal or the fact that he resigned in disgrace as Boston archbishop. Revising history, Sodano said Law had been “called to Rome” to serve as archpriest of the Vatican’s St. Mary Major basilica— apost he took up two years after his 2002 fall from grace in Boston.
Sodano concelebrated the Mass along with 30 other cardinals, including American Cardinals Ray- mond Burke and James Harvey and the ex-Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
In the pews were U. S. Ambassador- designate Callista Gingrich and her husband, Newt, some other members of the diplomatic corps and the Vatican foreign minister, Archbishop Paul Gallagher. Turnout was otherwise limited.
Law, who died Wednesday at age 86, left Boston in 2002 after revelations that he covered up for dozens of priests who raped and sexually-molested children, secretly moving them to different parishes.
The scandal, exposed by The Boston Globe and memorialized in the Oscarwinning film “Spotlight,” then spread throughout the U. S. and world, with thousands of people from all continents coming forward in ensuing years with claims their priests sexually abused them when they were children.
St. John Paul II’s decision to promote Law to head St. Mary Major in 2004 reinforced the impression that the Vatican— which had turned a blind eye to abuse for decades — still hadn’t grasped the scale of the problem.
The Associated Press