…“It’s a question that the Holy See needs to address urgently,” O’Malley told O'Donnell. Does the pope understand that? she asked. “There’s a recognition...from Pope Francis,” O'Malley replied. The cardinal also acknowledged that, owing to Finn's conviction, the bishop would not even be allowed to teach Sunday school.
In September, the National Catholic Reporter broke the news that the Vatican had sent Archbishop Terrance Prendergast of Ontario to Kansas City to investigate Finn, after the bishop's former chancellor (who is now posted in Chicago) asked the Congregation for Bishops to intervene (I covered some of this here). That seemed to confirm speculation that Finn was one of the three bishops Pope Francis revealed was under investigation back in May. At that time, the pope said that one of the three had "already been found guilty, and we are now considering the penalty to be imposed." As head of the Vatican's new sexual-abuse commission, and as one of the pope's closest advisers, Cardinal O'Malley is part of that "we."
John Allen has issued a predictable note of caution not to overinterpret O'Malley's remarks. "Don’t expect O’Malley to do this all the time," Allen writes. "He’s not an exhibitionist or a grandstander, and aides say he has no intention of becoming a moderate version of Cardinal Raymond Burke"--who rarely passes on an opportunity to ding Pope Francis's approach to church governance. Allen is right. It wasn't as though O'Malley volunteered that Finn had to be dealt with. O'Donnell had to prompt the cardinal to say that Pope Francis is aware of the problem. But that does not diminish the significance of the cardinal's remarks….
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