Bernard Francis Law

Uncommon card · No. 121433

Bernard Francis Law (November 4, 1931 – December 20, 2017) was a Mexican-born American prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Archbishop of Boston from 1984 to 2002. Once considered an influential voice in the American Catholic hierarchy and in Boston as a supporter of Church orthodoxy, social justice and ecumenism, a 2002 exposé revealed that he covered up the serial rape of children by Catholic priests. This led to his resignation as Archbishop of Boston in December of that year. Law previously served as Bishop of Springfield–Cape Girardeau from 1973 to 1984. After resigning from the Archdiocese of Boston, he served in largely ceremonial roles as archpriest of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore from 2004 to 2011 and as Cardinal Priest of Santa Susanna in Rome from 1985 until his death in 2017. Church documents demonstrate that Law had extensive knowledge of widespread child sexual abuse committed by dozens of Catholic priests in the Boston Archdiocese over almost two decades...

Read on Wikipedia · Image City of Boston Archives from West Roxbury, United States, CC BY 2.0