PHILADELPHIA (PA)
Philadelphia Inquirer
By John P. Martin
Inquirer Staff Writer
Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua died of natural causes, not for any reason related to the looming conspiracy and sex-abuse trial of one of his former top aides, the Montgomery County coroner said Thursday.
Ending weeks of speculation, Coroner Walter I. Hofman blamed the 88-year-old cardinal’s Jan. 31 death on routine factors: heart disease, prostate cancer, and old age.
“This is a natural death,” Hofman told reporters at his Norristown office. “Elderly people with preexisting disease often die quite suddenly.”
Hofman released his ruling after toxicology tests showed no inappropriate amounts of medication or chemicals in Bevilacqua’s system when he died.
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