Advocates for Mass. clergy abuse victims welcome Archbishop Law’s departure from Vatican post

By Martin Finucane and Brian R. Ballou, Globe Staff

Advocates for Mass. clergy abuse victims welcome Law’s departure from Vatican post…

Law resigned in disgrace as Boston’s archbishop in 2002 after the clergy sex abuse scandal erupted.

The Vatican said today that Pope Benedict XVI had accepted the 80-year-old Law’s resignation as archpriest of St. Mary Major basilica and had named as Law’s replacement Spanish Monsignor Santos Abril y Castello, The Associated Press reported.

Law’s 2004 appointment as the archpriest of one of Rome’s most important basilicas had been harshly criticized by advocates for clergy sex abuse victims.

Law turned 80 earlier this month. Victims’ advocates criticized plans for a birthday party for him in Rome. Law’s successor, Boston Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, who had to deal with the legal and financial impacts of the crisis, was in Rome on church business, but a spokesman for O’Malley said his time there was “devoted to work” and he wouldn’t be attending.

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OTHER COVERAGE FROM BOSTON

• Lawyers and advocates for victims of Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse welcomed Monday’s news that former Boston archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law has resigned from his position in Rome.

The Vatican announced Law, 80, has stepped down as archpriest of St. Mary Major basilica.

"With all due respect, society has not lost a great protector of children, said Mitchell Garabedian, a lawyer who has represented dozens of sex abuse victims in Boston.

Law should take the opportunity to return to Boston and apologize, said Garabedian, who like many of Law’s critics, said the cardinal didn’t do enough to protect children from predatory priests, instead transferring them from parish to parish.

"Cardinal Law should return to Boston, and face the victims and answer the many questions that remain," he said, while acknowledging that that is "highly unlikely."

Read more at:  http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view/20111121disgraced_bernard_law_resigns_vatican_post

Rocco Palmo, who covers church news and politics online, first reported Law’s move. He said Law was leaving his sinecure at a younger age than other recent holders of the seat and that the Vatican may be reacting to critics who have said Law’s appointment was a sign that the church did not “get it’’ when it came to clergy sexual abuse.

“I think they’re sending a signal that it had become a liability,’’ said Palmo, a former US correspondent for the London-based international Catholic weekly The Tablet. “I think it’s an acknowledgment, albeit more belated than a lot of folks would want, that that was not helping in terms of perception.’’

But John L. Allen, a senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, cautioned against reading too much into Law’s abrupt retirement, noting Law’s recent birthday.

“A cardinal at 80 technically starts powering down,’’ said Allen, speaking by phone from Rome yesterday.

Read more at:  http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/11/22/cardinal_bernard_law_retires_from_post_in_rome/