MINNESOTA
CNN
By Michael Pearson, CNN
(CNN)Archbishop John C. Nienstedt and his top deputy resigned Monday as the top Catholic officials in St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the wake of criminal sex abuse charges against the archdiocese.
In a statement, Nienstedt said he was resigning “to give the Archdiocese a new beginning amidst the many challenges we face.”
Auxiliary Bishop Lee Piche also resigned.
“The people of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis need healing and hope. I was getting in the way of that, and so I had to resign,” Piche said in a statement.
On June 5, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi filed six criminal charges against the archdiocese accusing it of encouraging, causing or contributing to the sexual abuse of three victims by a priest in 2010 and 2011.
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