Still No Word On Cardinal's Fate

BOSTON -- As Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law awaits judgement on his fate in Rome, former priest Paul Shanley will be released on $300,000 bail Tuesday after being arrested last spring for the alleged molestation of boys at a Newton, Mass., church in the 1970s and 1980s.

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Law has met with Vatican officials but there have been no official comments about the nature of his visit, which comes amid new allegations against seven more priests in the church's ongoing sex abuse scandal.

NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that documents released late Monday show that Law and other church officials not only covered up allegations but promoted priests who had been accused of sexually abusing children and women.

Law's trip to Rome is also clouded by the delivery of a petition to the chancery calling for Law's resignation. It was signed by more than 50 Boston-area priests who took the unprecedented step of asking their own leader to step down.

Law's image is clearly tarnished in Rome, some Vatican observers said.

"This present set of revelations has been the most damaging for Law in terms of his standing inside the Vatican. I think it's eroded his position significantly," said Vatican journalist John Allen, referring to the more than 2,000 personnel documents recently released by the archdiocese revealing a history of abuse and cover-ups involving Catholic priests that was far more widespread than previously believed.

"For example, a young man was molested by one priest, the priest was removed. The next priest comes in, he was molested by that priest as well. Horrific. Horrific damages with these individuals," said alleged victims' attorney Erik MacLeish.

There is still the multimillion-dollar question of whether Law will get permission from the Vatican to file for bankruptcy and the nagging question of who would replace the cardinal should the pope allow him to resign.

"After all, it's not going to be very easy to pick an archbishop to replace Cardinal Law. A lot of bishops in the region have been tainted by the same crisis," said Stephen Pope of Boston College.

Another option, according to Vatican sources, is for the pope to appoint a co-cardinal who could work alongside Law, allowing him to retain his title until his mandatory retirement age of 75, in five years.