LOS ANGELES (CA)
Metro (UK)
By Matthew Champion Wednesday 13 Mar 2013
As the world awaits any sign of the white smoke that could signal the election of the next Pope, the Catholic Church in Los Angeles has agreed to pay $10million (£6.69million) to four victims of sexual abuse by a priest.
Unmistakable black smoke billowed out of the Sistine Chapel chimney last night, revealing that cardinals had failed to agree on a successor to Benedict XVI who resigned last month.
One of those 115 scarlet-robed prelates is Cardinal Roger Mahony, whose former archdiocese in Los Angeles has settled four cases involving child abuse dating back to the mid-1970s.
Confidential documents alleged that now-defrocked priest Michael Baker had informed Cardinal Mahony in 1986 he molested children, but that the then archbishop worked behind the scenes to protect the church from scandal.
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