The Vatican may take the unusual step of naming a successor to Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law even if he does not resign, in a bid to curb growing anger over the US sex abuse scandal, Church sources said today.
The sources said the decision to announce the name of a successor, known in Church law as a "coadjutor," could be taken if the Vatican rejects demands for Law's resignation, as it did in April.
Cardinal Law slipped into Rome secretly over the weekend as the crisis over his leadership intensified. Many of his own priests urged him to step down yesterday and angry protesters demanded he face criminal charges for his handling of paedophile clergy.
"The Cardinal came to inform the Holy See about various aspects of the situation in his diocese of Boston," the Vatican said in a one-sentence statement today.
The long-simmering crisis in the Church boiled over last week as files released by lawyers for alleged victims of clergy sexual abuse showed Law and other archdiocese leaders allowed priests accused of sexual misconduct to remain in the ministry -- and even gave new jobs to some of them.
The documents revealed one priest was assigned to two parishes despite his record of molesting boys; another molested young girls while telling them he was the living embodiment of Jesus Christ and a third fathered two children and did not immediately call for help when their mother overdosed.
Naming a coadjutor would effectively make Cardinal Law a lame duck in his own diocese, but would be less traumatic for him than resigning in disgrace.