Posted on 02/22/2013 7:26:08 AM PST by marshmallow
US cardinal Roger Mahony, retired from church duties as part of a paedophilia scandal, cannot be banned from the conclave to elect a new pope, but could be advised to stay away, a fellow cardinal and canon law expert said in an interview on Tuesday.
"The common practise is to use persuasion. There is no more that can be done. Cardinal Mahony has the right and duty to take part," Velasio De Paolis, one of the 117 cardinal electors due to participate, told La Repubblica daily.
"This is a troubling situation but the rules must be followed," he said.
"He could be advised not to take part only through a private intervention by someone with great authority," the cardinal said, adding that ultimately "it will be up to his conscience to decide whether to take part or not".
Mahony, the former archbishop of Los Angeles, was relieved of all church administrative and public duties last month for mishandling and covering up abuse claims against dozens of priests, dating back to the 1980s.
An association of US Catholics, Catholics United, has launched a petition to keep him from taking part in next month's conclave to elect a successor to Benedict XVI, who is standing down on February 28 due to old age.
(Excerpt) Read more at globalpost.com ...
Cardinal Mahony could use this opportunity to round up some of his other buddies with the same “problem” and elect their own anti-pope ~ then set him up in San Francisco.
Hey, we finally have (hopefully) a decent bishop up here in the SF Bay with Cordileone!
There’s no reason a Cardinal has to move out just because an anti-pope comes to town ~
I believe Mahony will be there. Some people have no shame.
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