VATICAN CITY
Lethbridge Herald
BY NICOLE WINFIELD, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ON APRIL 21, 2015.
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of a U.S. bishop who pleaded guilty to failing to report a suspected priestly child abuser in the first known case of a pope cracking down on a bishop who covered up for a pedophile.
The Vatican said Tuesday that Bishop Robert Finn had offered his resignation under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign early for illness or some “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office. It didn’t provide the reason.
Finn, who leads the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri, waited six months before notifying police about the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, whose computer contained hundreds of lewd photos of young girls taken in and around churches where he worked. Ratigan was sentenced to 50 years in prison after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.
Finn pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour charge of failure to report suspected abuse and was sentenced to two years’ probation in 2012.
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