Pope names Law to ceremonial position in Rome
Pope John Paul II yesterday appointed Cardinal Bernard F. Law to a ceremonial job overseeing one of the four major basilicas of Rome, granting the former archbishop of Boston a prestigious appointment just two days after the Archdiocese of Boston announced that it was closing 65 parishes.
The appointment, which will indefinitely provide Law with a job and an apartment at the heart of Rome, infuriated critics who blame Law for the clergy sexual abuse scandal and believe that the ensuing crisis in the church led to the need for the sweeping parish closings announced this week.
The Vatican, as is its practice, offered no explanation for the move other than to say that Law will replace an Italian cardinal who is retiring at age 82. Law, who resigned as archbishop of Boston in December 2002 because of the abuse scandal, is now referred to by church officials as archbishop emeritus of Boston; also, he remains a cardinal who serves on nine important Vatican congregations and councils and who is entitled to participate in the conclave at which the next pope is elected. Law's new post is as archpriest of the Patriarchal Basilica of St. Mary Major, a fifth-century church frequented by tourists and pilgrims and visited twice each year by the pope. The church, also known by the Italian name Santa Maria Maggiore, was at first named St. Mary of the Snow because it is built on Esquiline Hill where in AD 352 an apparition of Mary appeared to Pope Liberius and correctly predicted a freak August snowstorm the next day.
The Vatican did not describe Law's duties, but scholars said an archpriest is a largely ceremonial job overseeing a major church. St. Mary Major Basilica, which is noted for its mosaics and for a relic of Jesus crib, has a staff that administers it from day to day.
"This appointment is intended by Rome to honor Cardinal Law for his hard work for the church," Stephen J. Pope, an associate professor of theology at Boston College, said in an e-mail from Rome. "It does not give the cardinal any significant new power in the church, but it will be perceived by many ordinary American Catholics as an effort to minimize the harm done by his governance of the archdiocese of Boston. Some Catholics would have been more encouraged by an effort to increase the accountability of bishops, rather than simply moving beyond the scandal."
Law's critics were irate.
"I can't even explain to you the pit I felt in my stomach," Alexa MacPherson, 29, of Dorchester, who was awarded a settlement of an abuse claim from the archdiocese, said at a news conference at her lawyer's office. "How do I, as a victim, begin to heal knowing this?"
Her lawyer, Mitchell Garabedian, called the appointment "a slap in the face" and said, "It appears as though Law, in hiding the fact that hundreds of children were molested by priests, was rewarded."
James E. Post, president of the lay organization Voice of the Faithful, called the appointment "profoundly disappointing."
"This public affirmation of Cardinal Law's position as a church leader undermines the pope's stated concern for children and young people," Post said. "The position, while mostly ceremonial, sends a powerful symbolic signal: Loyalty matters more than accountability; clerical favors matter more than protecting children."
Law, 72, has officially been living in Clinton, Md., at a convent of the Religious Sisters of Mercy of Alma, but he has been seen frequently in Rome in recent months, including at a Latin Mass at St. Mary Major last May. A message left at the convent yesterday was not returned.
Law currently collects a salary and benefits from the Archdiocese of Boston. Some American prelates who hold jobs in Rome are paid by the Vatican, not by their local dioceses, but an archdiocesan official said yesterday that it was not clear whether Law's new post will include a salary or whether that will continue to be covered by the archdiocese.
His successor in Boston, Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, issued a brief statement yesterday saying that Law had been prepared to spend his retirement living at a Pennsylvania monastery, where he spent time between his resignation and his move to Maryland.
"I know that Cardinal Law would have been happy to spend the rest of his life in the Benedictine monastery in Latrobe, but the Holy Father has assigned him to a Church in Rome, the original task of Cardinals," O'Malley said. "We pray that God will bless Cardinal Law in the ministry he takes up as Archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major."
John L. Allen Jr., Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, said in a telephone interview that he has seen apartments at the basilica, although not the apartment of the archpriest, and said of the quarters: "They're spacious and well appointed, but this is not Donald Trump penthouse living. And there is a staff to make life easy."
Allen said the appointment could be viewed as an "act of compassion" by the ailing pope and that there was no significance that it came two days after the parish closings announcement. He said the current archpriest, Cardinal Carlo Furno of Italy, was ready to retire.
"The idea was to find a position in which his baggage would not bog things down, but give him a job which allows him to set up shop here, where he's still treated with deference and respect, in part because he's a cardinal and in part because some people [at the Vatican] think he got a raw deal," Allen said.
Law was once one of the most respected prelates in the United States, but his reputation suffered severely because of revelations that he had repeatedly not removed abusive priests from ministry, and ultimately 58 local priests, of about 1,600 archdiocesan and religious order priests, called for him to quit.
The National Review Board appointed by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops declared in February that the Archdiocese of Boston appeared to be "a diocese with a cadre of predator priests and a hierarchy that simply refused to confront them and stop them." Last year, Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly issued a report stating that 48 priests and other archdiocesan employees allegedly abused children during Law's tenure in Boston and that "as archbishop, and therefore chief executive of the archdiocese, Cardinal Bernard Law bears ultimate responsibility for the tragic treatment of children that occurred during his tenure. But by no means does he bear sole responsibility."
Several scholars said it was significant that Law did not get a loftier appointment overseeing a Vatican department or serving as a Vatican diplomat.
"This is not some major appointment -- it's not like he was named secretary of state or even archpriest of St. Peter's -- but it's something and it does give him a base in Rome," said the Rev. Richard P. McBrien, a professor of theology at the University of Notre Dame. "We didn't need this appointment to be persuaded that he is still in favor in the Vatican, and that the key people over there continue to believe that the sexual abuse crisis and whatever role Law had in it was overblown by an anti-Catholic media and that Law was a kind of victim of hysteria."
Jessica Bennett contributed to this report. Michael Paulson can be reached by e-mail at mpaulson@globe.com. 