Cardinal Law, disgraced figure in church abuse scandal,

VATICAN CITY » Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston whose failure to stop child molesters in the priesthood triggered the worst crisis in American Catholicism, died Wednesday in Rome at age 86.

Law, who spent his final years in various Vatican posts, had been sick and was recently hospitalized.

Law was once one of the most important figures in the U.S. church, wielding considerable influence inside the Vatican. From 1984 until he resigned under pressure 18 years later, he was spiritual leader in Boston, the nation’s fourthlargest archdiocese, with 1.8 million Catholics.

But in 2002, The Boston Globe began a series of stories that revealed that Law and his predecessors had transferred child-molesting priests from parish to parish without alerting parents or police — a scandal later chronicled in the Oscar-winning film “Spotlight.”

Within months, Catholics around the country demanded to know whether their bishops had done the same.

In Boston, Law’s death was met with bitterness among some.

“I hope the gates of hell are swinging wide to allow him entrance,” said Alexa MacPherson, who says she was abused for six years as a child. “I won’t shed a tear for him. I might shed a tear for everyone who’s been a victim under him.”

Law’s successor as archbishop, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, said it was a “sad reality” that Law’s legacy will forever be tied to the abuse scandal, when the church “seriously failed” to care for its flock and protect children.

Pope Francis, who is being watched closely by the faithful over his handling of bishops who shield pedophiles, is set to preside over Law’s funeral rites at a Mass on Thursday at St. Peter’s Basilica, an honor accorded to all Romebased cardinals.

The pope said nothing about Law’s passing during his weekly general audience