UNITED KINGDOM
Channel 4
Jimmy Savile could become the first person to be stripped of a papal knighthood posthumously after the head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales asked the Vatican to investigate its removal.
The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols, has now written to Rome asking whether Savile’s papal knighthood can be annulled in recognition of his victims’ “deep distress”.
Church sources said there was no established process to remove a papal honour posthumously because the award dies with the recipient.
However, senior Roman Catholic clergy in Britain feel that the Vatican should look at whether it can do something to recognise its disgust at the “deeply shocking” series of allegations of child sexual abuse made against the former Jim’ll Fix It presenter.
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.