Mahony defends action on abuse
The cardinal says he instituted safeguards to protect minors in response to the cases of predator priests.
VATICAN CITY — Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles staunchly defended his record on dealing with sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in an interview published Tuesday by an Italian newspaper.
Mahony, who has been criticized for covering up the movements of predator priests and in effect shielding them from legal authorities, told Corriere della Sera that “after 20 years, people are talking about abuse as if we had not done anything.” But in fact, he said, he instituted procedures in Los Angeles in 2002 that allow “no possibility, for example, of anyone found guilty of abuse of minors working for the diocese.”
Mahony, who in recent months has refused repeated requests for interviews with the Los Angeles Times, was publicly rebuked in February by Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez in connection with his handling of sexual abuse cases. His comments to Corriere della Sera largely repeated those he made in a public letter to Gomez after his censure.
Mahony, who is in Rome in advance of the conclave to elect a successor to former Pope Benedict XVI, told the Italian publication that he “had not understood the real nature of the problem” in his early years as archbishop. “We tried to follow the best practices of the period,” he said.
Mahony said he subsequently set about building a network of safeguards against abuse, including the creation of a Sexual Abuse Advisory Board in 1994.
“My rather painful mistake was to not apply the work of that committee to previous cases. I was more focused on new cases. However, that was an error I completely rectified in 2002,” Mahony said.
He said he would be seeking to share his experience of tackling abuse with fellow cardinals attending the conclave.
On Tuesday, Mahony attended the second day of pre-conclave meetings at the Vatican. More than 30 cardinals so far have addressed the group on themes that include governance at the Vatican, which has been rocked by scandals over mismanagement and infighting.
Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said five of the 115 cardinals who will elect the new pope had not yet arrived in Rome and suggested that a date for the conclave could be voted on before they joined the early meetings.
Before he stepped down on Feb. 28, Benedict changed Vatican rules to allow cardinals to vote to move up the date of a conclave.
But the cardinals seemed to be in no hurry to wrap up their pre-conclave hearings, voting Monday to scrap afternoon sessions for Tuesday and Wednesday.
Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston said participants wanted more time to discuss candidate lists among themselves.
But Father Thomas Reese, an American Jesuit priest and author, said the cardinals were also rejecting pressure to agree to back a list of front-runners.
“The people who decided to double the sessions wanted to get to the conclave fast,” Reese said, “knowing that if you move up the date you favor the front-runners, the cardinals everyone knows, those who primarily work in the Curia.” Kington is a special correspondent.