UNITED KINGDOM
Reuters
By Alessandra Rizzo
LONDON | Sat Oct 27, 2012
(Reuters) – The head of the Roman Catholic Church in England has written to the Vatican to ask whether it is possible to strip the late BBC presenter Jimmy Savile of a papal knighthood because of his role in a sex abuse scandal, a spokesman said on Saturday.
Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols wrote to the Holy See in the light of “deeply shocking” allegations and in recognition of the “deep distress” suffered by any abuse victims, a spokesman for the archbishop said.
Allegations that Savile, a cigar-chomping former DJ who was one of the BBC’s top presenters, sexually abused young girls for decades has thrown the publicly-funded BBC into disarray. On Thursday, police said some 300 victims had come forward and that they were preparing to make arrests.
Savile, a Catholic active in charitable works, died last year aged 84.
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