By John Solomon
How the government's punishing of the exposure of official wrongdoing can linger for years
Pope Benedict XVI signed several decrees Monday to ensure a swift and smooth election of a successor without hint of a brewing scandal, as the most senior cardinals in Britain and the U.S. wrestled with their personal involvements in the Roman Catholic Church's decade-old sex scandal.
A moment of truth for the Catholic Church is at hand now, as cardinals travel to Rome to select a new pope. Expected to participate is disgraced and disgraceful former Los Angeles Archbishop Roger Mahony.
Popular pressure is mounting in the United States and Italy to keep Cardinal Roger Mahony, the archbishop emeritus of Los Angeles, away from the conclave to elect the next pope because of his role in shielding sexually abusive priests, a movement targeting one of the most prominent of a handful of compromised cardinals scheduled to vote next month.
Retired Cardinal Roger Mahony apologized Thursday for bungling church-related child sex abuse investigations, shortly after he was stripped of administrative duties by his successor.
Prosecutors will review internal priest personnel files kept by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles that show retired Cardinal Roger Mahony and other top church officials worked to shield molester priests.
Secret files kept for decades by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles on priests accused of sexually abusing children soon could become public as a five-year legal battle over the release reaches its endgame.
Police arrested a mother after she reportedly told officers she didn't want her children any longer.
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Cardinal Mahony wrote on his personal blog that he "can't recall a time such as now when people tend to be so judgmental and even self-righteous, so quick to accuse, judge and condemn.
At best, he said, someone could persuade him not to come, but Cardinal De Paolis insisted he wasn't suggesting that someone should.
