Cardinal Justin Rigali, whose leadership of the Philadelphia Roman Catholic archdiocese has been tainted by a continuing scandal over sexual misconduct by priests, is set to retire Tuesday.Read the rest here.
The archdiocese, the sixth largest in the United States with 1.5 million Catholics, has been under fire over accusations it concealed the sexual abuse of children by priests to avoid a costly scandal.
The archdiocese website announced that Rigali, 76, is to be replaced by Archbishop Charles Chaput, 66, who has been archbishop in Denver since 1997.
The Catholic Church has been rocked by a series of sexual abuse cover-up scandals in both Europe and the United States in recent years.
As I have noted before, the problem is not the relatively small number of priests who are sexual deviants. The problem is the bishops who have covered up for them. If the bishops had sacked problem clergy right away the RCC would not be tainted in the way it has been. In my mind the real scandal is that not a single Catholic bishop has been charged with obstruction of justice, child endangerment and conspiracy. Anyone else who had been engaged in such vast coverups would be spending their days turning big rocks into little rocks as a multi-year guest of the state.
As far as I'm concerned guys like Rigali and Mahoney have a lot to answer for, and as they seem to be unwilling to answer for it in this world then it will be in the next. I do, however, agree with you regarding the scandal.
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