The leader of the largest US Roman Catholic archdiocese said he made a mistake by transferring a priest accused of child molesting to a hospital, the Los Angeles Timessaid.
"I think that was a mistake on our part then to not simply tell them of his background," Cardinal Roger Mahony of the Los Angeles Archdiocese said in an interview marking his first public comments on a specific sex abuse charge involving the archdiocese.
Cardinal Mahony's comments come amid a sex abuse scandal that has rocked the US Catholic Church and led to the removal of priests in several states since the trial earlier this year of defrocked Boston priest Fr John Geoghan. He was sentenced to prison for child molestation.
Cardinal Mahony told the newspaper he should not have assigned Father Michael Wempe to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center 15 years ago without telling hospital officials that the priest had undergone counselling.
Cardinal Mahony said he did not know the hospital had a paediatric unit. He said the facility that had treated Fr Wempe had said the priest could be trusted in a supervised position without access to children.
Further, Cardinal Mahony said he was told that Fr Wempe could serve as a priest in a prison or hospital.
Cardinal Mahony said he should have forced Fr Wempe to resign after hearing of abuse allegations. He said he did not report the allegations to police at the time.
Fr Wempe worked at Cedars-Sinai from 1988 until last month, when he was forced to retire by Cardinal Mahony. The newspaper said it could not reach Fr Wempe (62) for comment.
A Cedars-Sinai spokeswoman said there had been no complaints or claims against Fr Wempe while he worked at the hospital.
On Wednesday, two brothers filed a lawsuit charging that Fr Wempe had sexually abused them from about 1976 to 1985.
Cardinal Mahony in February fired six to 12 priests amid rising concerns about sex abuse cases involving clergy, according to the Times.