Scandal Threatens John Paul II's Sainthood

Questions swirl over late Pope's record on abuse
By Emily Rauhala,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 30, 2010 4:27 AM CDT
Scandal Threatens John Paul II's Sainthood
John Paul II may need to wait to become a saint.    (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri, File)

Questions swirled about John Paul II's legacy at a ceremony yesterday marking the 5th anniversary of his death. The inexplicable healing of a young French nun from Parkinson's disease had seemed like the miracle required for his sainthood. But, according to a Polish newspaper, there are now doubts the nun ever had the disease. The Vatican has summoned new experts to scrutinize the case.

The abuse scandal casts another shadow, the AP notes. The Vatican's handling of sex abuse cases during John Paul II's 26 year-papacy has come under new scrutiny, especially the explosion of complaints from the US. The pontiff transferred Cardinal Bernard Law to one of Rome's most storied basilicas in the wake of a scandal in Boston. Many thought the move rewarded the cleric for shuffling molester priests from parish to parish instead of removing them from contact with children.
(More pedophile priests stories.)

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