PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Boston Globe
[Bevilacqua Documents via BishopAccountability.org]
By Maryclaire Dale
Associated Press / February 1, 2012
PHILADELPHIA—Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua’s death may not greatly alter the March trial of an aide charged with child endangerment for allegedly keeping predator-priests around children.
Bevilacqua’s testimony was preserved on videotape late last year, since he was 88 and ailing. And though a judge found him competent to testify, his dementia would have been evident on the witness stand, lawyers said.
Still, his 10 combative appearances before a Philadelphia grand jury in 2003 and 2004 exposed church secrets about 63 accused priests that ultimately rocked the Roman Catholic hierarchy — and the cardinal himself, who grew reclusive in retirement.
Philadelphia priests raped boys in church sacristies, stripped them nude and whipped them as part of a Passion Play, got them drunk and showed them pornography — and remained on the job, the 2005 grand jury report said.
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