Reilly blasts Vatican on Law's prominence
Says his role sends 'wrong message'
Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly blasted the Vatican yesterday for picking Cardinal Bernard F. Law, the former archbishop of Boston, to celebrate a Mass of mourning for Pope John Paul II.
''I'm profoundly disappointed that Cardinal Law was given such a position of prominence this week," Reilly said. ''The church has sent the wrong message, particularly to victims and their families and to children. They've sent exactly the wrong message to people who hoped some things would change."
Law resigned in 2002 after media reports publicizing his failure to remove abusive priests provoked public outrage. In 2003, Reilly issued a report asserting that 48 priests and other employees of the archdiocese abused children during Law's tenure and that Law ''bears the ultimate responsibility for the tragic treatment of children that occurred."
Law is now the archpriest of the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome and was the only American selected to say one of the nine mourning Masses. The heads of the three other Vatican patriarchal basilicas have also been selected to celebrate memorial Masses. Law celebrated the Mass on Monday.
Reilly said he is also outraged that Law will be among the 117 cardinals who select a new pope.
''This just shows the depth of the problem . . . from the top down," Reilly said. ''Literally, tens of thousands here in this country and throughout the world are people trying to hold their lives together after abuse. . . . It's been devastating what's happened to them, and this is the message they get from the church?"
Suzanne Smalley can be reached at
ssmalley@globe.com. 
