VATICAN CITY
CanIndia
VATICAN CITY
Activists fighting for truth and justice for victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests hold out little hope for progress under the next pope as controversy brews over a US cardinal who covered up for predator clerics.
A Catholic association has asked retired Los Angeles archbishop Roger Mahony to stay away from next month’s conclave after he was stripped of all public duties for mishandling claims against dozens of priests.
Campaigners say the disgraced cardinal’s behaviour is precisely what Pope Benedict XVI has failed to crack down on and point to other “cardinal electors” linked to abuse scandals that have rocked the Catholic Church in recent years.
“He should have the good sense to stay well away from Rome,” said Roberto Mirabile, director of the Italian anti-abuse group La Caramella Buona, whose lobbying helped convict a paedophile parish priest near Rome last year.
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