It is hard not to engage in speculation concerning the child-molestation scandal in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. Especially when everyone knows there will be a 1000 pound gorilla (or perhaps Godzilla) in the courtroom. Furthermore, the fever seems to be highly contagious, even within the intellectual legal community. Consequently, there was little surprise when prosecutors recently asked a coroner to examine the body of Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua to make sure he died of natural causes. Publicly, Risa Vetri Ferman, district attorney, states that she wants to lay to rest speculation about Bevilacqua's death. Privately, one has to wonder what the heck she is thinking.
True, the 88-year-old cardinal died just a day after a judge ruled him competent to testify at the trial of his longtime aide, Monsignor William Lynn. Furthermore, Bevilacqua did in fact die Jan. 31 at a seminary well within the control of the archdiocese. And it is further true that he was in fact buried without the benefit of an autopsy. However, the Cardinal was suffering from dementia and cancer so should it really be any surprise that he died from natural causes? Logic suggest no; however, the question still lingers whether anything sped up his demise.
Toxicology tests on fluid and tissue taken after Bevilacqua's body was embalmed should be able to answer the central question. Bevilacqua was not healthy and his medical records document his cancer and dementia. His death came prior to the upcoming trial of Monsignor William Lynn, who is accused of suppressing information about priests suspected of molesting children by sending them to unwitting parishes from 1992 to 2004. In a grand jury report, prosecutors apparently accused Bevilacqua himself of presiding over the alleged cover-up of sexual abuse by priests. However, Bevilacqua was not charged with any crime.
Should anyone be suspicious of the passing of Bevilacqua? The Cardinal was sick, frail, and under extreme stress. At age 88, didn't he have a right to die, even in the eyes of the Catholic Church?
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7 comments:
The reason for suspicion is because of so many years of coverup.
The Cardinal possibly getting axed does not compare to the three students who were shot this morning at Chardon High School in northeast Ohio. The school was placed on lockdown. Students were soon evacuated and transported to a nearby elementary school.
Catholics tend to believe they are all that... why should one person's death be such a high ranking news story?
Witnesses die all the time.
A judge today said the discovery of Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua’s 1994 order to shred memos about dozens of Philadelphia-area priests suspecting of molesting children is no reason to halt the upcoming conspiracy trial.
no reason at all.
Full speed ahead in the prosectution.
Yep...they smothered him in his bed when they realized the prosecutor would get the truth out of him. Or maybe he refused to lie.
I was raised Catholic, and though nothing ever happened to me, as a child I never felt comfortable around those Priests and Nuns...and now days they tell children to "trust your instincts". When I was a child my instincts told me to stay away from them...and just maybe that is why I survived without an encounter, as I found out recently that the priest that gave me my first communion is wanted for molestation and apparently he is on the run in S. America...WTF??
V.G. all kinds of demons in the CAtholic church leadership that need to be exorcised.
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