L.A. Cardinal Relieved of Duties

In an unprecedented move, Los Angeles Archbishop José Gomez has relieved his predecessor, Cardinal Roger Mahony, of all his duties due to Mahony’s “mishandling” of child sex-abuse allegations by members of the clergy. The announcement falls on the same day that the church published 122 pages of the secret personnel files about the abuse. Auxiliary Bishop Thomas J. Curry, who allegedly covered up the abusers with Mahony, resigned. While Mahony canceled his confirmation schedule, an archdiocese spokesman insisted he remained a retired priest “in good standing.” But the pain of the scandal lives on: in a letter on the church’s website addressed to “my brothers and sisters in Christ,” Gomez called the posted files “brutal and painful reading” and said “the behavior described in these files is terribly sad and misleading.”