PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By John P. Martin
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua died of natural causes, the Montgomery County coroner said Thursday.
Coroner Walter I. Hofman said toxicology tests revealed nothing suspicious or unusual about the Jan. 31 death of the longtime leader of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia.
His ruling ends a month of speculation stoked when District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman asked the coroner to review the 88-year-old cardinal’s death. Ferman said she had no reason to suspect foul play, but she and others found the timing of his death “peculiar.”
Bevilacqua died a day after a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge declared that, despite claims of his failing health and mental state, he was presumed to be competent enough to testify at the forthcoming conspiracy and child-sex abuse trial of three former and current priests.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.