Another priest gets the chop
2002-05-24 20:57
Vatican City - Pope John Paul II on Friday accepted the resignation of Milwaukee Archbishop Rembert Weakland, the latest high-ranking American churchman to be implicated in the sexual scandals rocking the US church, and a top Vatican official expressed confidence the US bishops can find a solution to the crisis.
Only a day earlier, Weakland said he was pressing the Vatican
for a quick decision on his retirement request submitted last month after he turned 75. Under Church law, all bishops at that age must offer their retirement, and it is up to the pope to either accept it or ask the churchman to stay on.
The Vatican's one-sentence announcement, without comment, cited Weakland's age as the reason for the resignation.
On Thursday, Weakland denied he had molested anyone but
confirmed a news report that he had paid a former, adult, theology student $450 000 to settle the claim of sexual assault.
Praying for solution
The Wisconsin archbishop, a leading liberal in American church
hierarchy, joined a list of prominent churchmen to be caught up in the sexual scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in the United States, several European countries and elsewhere.
John Paul was travelling in Bulgaria when the resignation was
announced. Asked whether the pope was aware of the developments in the Weakland case and what his reaction was, John Paul's spokesperson, Joaquin Navarro-Valls, said: "Well, of course, he reads the newspapers. He has said so clearly his views on this topic that he did not give a specific comment."
Cardinal Walter Kasper, a top Vatican official travelling with
the pope, said "I pray for the American bishops to find a solution to this crisis, and I'm sure they will find one."
Asked what he was proposing, Kasper replied: "I can't propose a solution for them."
Last month the pope summoned US cardinals to the Vatican to an extraordinary meeting to grapple with the scandal, whose financial settlements have cost US dioceses dearly.
The scandals have also shaken faith of many Catholics in their
church leaders.
In his meeting with the cardinals, the pope condemned sexual
abuse by priests as a crime and said there was no room in the
priesthood for clerics guilty of such abuse.
Since January, three bishops - in the United States, Poland and Ireland - have resigned because of allegations of sexual abuse.
Liberal views
Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law has resisted calls to resign over charges he covered up sexual abuse by priests under his
jurisdiction.
The pope named no immediate successor for Weakland, who, even
before news of the costly settlement, was under fire for his
handling of abuse allegations against a priest in 1979. In 1993,
Weakland admitted that he had moved a priest from one church to
another after the priest admitted molesting a 13-year-old boy.
His liberal views in a Church led by a pontiff who is
conservative on matters of sexuality already had earned him Vatican censure. He angered the Vatican for his studying why women have abortions. And, in contrast to the Vatican's line, Weakland has suggested that the ordination of married men could be a way to solve the shortage of priests in many countries. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA