The Vatican has confirmed that Bernard Law, the former Boston cardinal who resigned in disgrace during the church sex abuse scandal, has died at age 86.
He died in Rome, where he served as archpriest of the Papal Liberian
Basilica of St. Mary Major after he was forced to resign as archbishop
of Boston in 2002.
The Vatican issued a press release early Wednesday confirming the
death of Cardinal Bernard Law, with one line reading “Cardinal Bernard
Law died early this morning after a long illness.”
Law never faced criminal sanctions for his role in allowing abusive
priests to remain in church parishes. The scandal reverberated through
the church, exposing similar allegations worldwide that compromised its
moral authority and led to years of multimillion-dollar settlements. To
his detractors, his second career at the Vatican was a slap in the face
to victims of church sex abuse, one that further undermined the church’s
legitimacy.
