MINNESOTA
Catholic News Agency
St. Paul, Minn., Jul 1, 2014 / 05:43 pm (CNA).- Archbishop John Nienstedt of St. Paul, Minn., has ordered a third party investigation of himself following recent accusations of sexual misconduct, which he denies as being “entirely false.”
Three months ago, Archbishop Nienstedt was cleared of an accusation of touching a male minor’s posterior region during a confirmation photo shoot in 2009. During that investigation, Archbishop Nienstedt removed himself from public ministry but was happy to return after no charges were brought against him.
Late last year, around the time the first case was opened, allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct with seminarians, priests, and other men came to light, prompting a new investigation and a statement released by the archbishop denying the claims.
“These allegations are absolutely and entirely false,” Archbishop Nienstedt said. “Nonetheless, I ordered Bishop Lee Piché to oversee an independent, thorough investigation and that he hire an outside firm unaffiliated with the Archdiocese to conduct the investigation.”
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.