Cardinal Bernard Law, Symbol Of Clergy Abuse, Dead At 86

BOSTON, MA — The former Archbishop of Boston and symbol of the clergy abuse crisis, Cardinal Bernard Law died today in Rome, according to reports. He was 86 years old. Law was considered the central player in the Catholic Church sex abuse scandal — and its decades-long cover up.

He was accused of not only knowing about a pervasive problem of priests who raped and molested children, but of knowingly and systematically reassigning abusers to other parishes, where they were not punished. He was also considered the most powerful of Catholic church figures in the States to get ensnared in the scandal.

Law was the focus of a Boston Globe "Spotlight" investigative series on clergy sex abuse that rocked the world. After initially refusing to admit any wrong doing, he resigned in disgrace during the scandal. He eventually apologized in a press conference, though he was never criminally charged because the state had no law at the time requiring him come forward with information about the sexual abuse of children by priests he'd supervised. The Globe reported that Law and two of his predecessors as Boston archbishop had transferred former priest John Geoghan among parish assignments knowing he molested children.

"I wish to address the issue of sexual abuse of minors by clergy... I apologize once again to all those who have been sexually abused as minors by priests....There is no way to for me to describe adequately the evil of such acts," he said in a statement in 2002.

"To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes I both apologize and from them beg forgiveness," he said in that press conference at the time.

Although he resigned from his Boston post after being called out for protecting priests who abused children, he later found an influential second career in Rome. In 2011 he retired as archpriest of the Patriarchal Liberian Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, CNN reported in 2013.

The news of Law's death reopens old wounds, said Mitchell Garabedian, the Boston attorney best known for representing dozens of people who say they were sexually abused by priests.

"Many victims are reminded of the pain," he told The Associated Press Tuesday evening.

More than 130 people came forward to say Geoghan abused them. Eventually, the archdiocese paid some $10 million in settlements with 86 of his victims and their relatives.

Since 1950 more than 6,500 US priests have been accused of molesting children.

Law's Vatican funeral is set for 3.30 p.m. Thursday with Pope Francis (per usual) leading Final Commendation, reported Rocco Palmo who reports on Church issues for Whispers in the Loggia.

Caption: In this file photo, white rose petals, symbolizing snow, drop from the ceiling of St. Mary Major's Basilica during U.S. Cardinal Bernard Law's Mass at a ceremony for Our Lady of the Snows, in Rome, Friday, Aug. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

Materials from The Associated Press were used in this report