UNITED STATES
Crux
By Michael O’Loughlin
National reporter November 14, 2014
Speaking out on the most important clergy sexual abuse issue in the United States, Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley said the Vatican must do something quickly about Bishop Robert Finn, the Kansas City prelate convicted of failing to report child abuse by one of his priests.
Finn, convicted two years ago, was sentenced to two years of probation for waiting six months before telling police that diocesan officials had found pornographic images of young girls on the computer of the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, one of his parish priests. Ratigan pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and was sentenced to 50 years in federal prison; Finn has remained the bishop of the diocese.
Speaking to CBS News, O’Malley agreed that under the Catholic Church’s zero-tolerance policy, he wouldn’t let Finn even teach Sunday school in Boston, let alone head a diocese.
“It’s a question the Holy See needs to address urgently …. There’s a recognition of that from Pope Francis,” O’Malley told 60 Minutes reporter Norah O’Donnell in an interview scheduled to air Sunday.
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