Former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned after a major sex abuse scandal hit the Catholic Church, died in Rome. His death has been confirmed by the Vatican.
Law was forced to resign in 2002 after investigative reporters on the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team unveiled a massive cover-up for pedophile priests by Law and other bishops that came before him.
Although Law was never indicted, the scandal rocked the Christian world, and the Pulitzer-winning Spotlight team’s story reached a much wider audience when a movie based on the story won an Academy Award for Best Picture in 2016.
After the scandal and his subsequent resignation from the Boston Archdiocese, Bernard Law served as archpriest of the Papal Liberian Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome.
The Vatican issued a press release after his death, only mentioning this: “Cardinal Bernard Law died early this morning after a long illness.”
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