Vatican City - The funeral of Cardinal
Bernard Law, who resigned as Archbishop of Boston 15 years ago
after covering up years of sexual abuse of children by priests,
was held in the Vatican on Thursday without a mention of what
led to his downfall.
About 200 people attended the funeral Mass in a chapel in
the apse of St. Peter's Basilica and presided over by a senior
cardinal, Angelo Sodano. The wooden coffin lay on the floor with
an open book of the gospels resting on it.
Pope Francis entered the chapel for a few minutes after the
Mass to bless the coffin and conduct a brief service known as
the Final Commendation and Farewell - which he does for all
cardinals who die in Rome.
"He dedicated his whole life to the Church," Sodano said in
his homily in praise of Law, who died on Wednesday.
Sodano listed the stages of Law's clerical life and said the
late Pope John Paul had "called him to Rome" to be archpriest of
a Rome basilica. But Sodano made no mention of the reason why he
left Boston.
"Unfortunately, each of us can sometimes be lacking in our
mission," Sodano said.
The pope read out a Latin prayer, part of which reads: "May
he be given a merciful judgement".
About 15 cardinals attended, though not Law's successor in
Boston, Cardinal Sean O'Malley. O'Malley said on Wednesday that
Law served at a time "when the Church failed seriously in its
responsibilities ..."
Law was Archbishop of Boston for 18 years when he resigned
on Dec. 13, 2002, climaxing a tumultuous year that sparked the
greatest crisis in the history of the American Catholic Church.
A succession of devastating news stories by Boston Globe
reporters showed how priests who sexually abused children had
been moved from parish to parish for years under Law's tenure
without parishioners or law authorities being informed.
Victims groups have expressed outrage that Law's funeral was
being in St. Peter's and that he would be buried in a crypt in a
chapel of the Rome Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he
served as archpriest.
"Survivors of child sexual assault in Boston, who were first
betrayed by Law's cover-up of sex crimes and then doubly
betrayed by his subsequent promotion to Rome, were those most
hurt," SNAP, a victim's group, said in a statement on Wednesday.
After Pope Francis left Thursday's funeral, two nuns in
brown robes knelt by the coffin and arched over it to pray.
After the funeral, Cardinal Franc Rode of Slovenia praised
Law as "a good man with good intentions".
"All these provisions about paedophilia were not as severe
as they are now so one can't say that he made that many
mistakes," Rode told Reuters Television, saying it was "another
era". He did not elaborate.
About a half dozen ambassadors attended. The United States'
official representative was Louis Bono, the current chief of
mission at the U.S. Embassy to the Vatican.
U.S. Ambassador-designate Callista Gingrich and her husband
Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives,
attended in a private capacity. Callista Gingrich officially
becomes ambassador on Friday.