HEAD OF POPE’S SEX ABUSE COUNCIL SUED FOR COVER-UP
Top cardinal slammed for failing to protect minors in his own diocese
BOSTON (ChurchMilitant.com) - Three former Catholic students are suing Cdl. Seán O'Malley, president of the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, for covering up alleged sex abuse by a former principal of the Arlington Catholic School.
The lawsuit against the cardinal, who heads the Boston archdiocese where clerical sex abuse scandals first exploded in 2002, was filed on May 5 — a day after O'Malley admitted that the commission has been "the subject of intense criticism both internally and externally."
"Cardinal O'Malley has failed woefully in protecting children within the archdiocese of Boston, never mind worldwide," attorney Mitchell Garabedian told reporters Monday.
Garabedian emphasized the prelate's role as president of the child protection commission.
Bishop Robert Deeley, head of the diocese of Portland, Maine, and Bp. Peter Uglietto, an auxiliary bishop of the Boston archdiocese, are also named in the lawsuit, which was obtained by Church Militant. Both hold the position of vicar general.
The civil suit alleges that Stephen Biagioni, a former vice principal at Arlington Catholic High School, sexually abused the boys who were between the ages of 15 and 17 from 2011 to 2016.
The cardinal and the two bishops "knew, or were negligent in not knowing" that Biagioni, who was later promoted to principal, engaged "in explicit sexual behavior and lewd and lascivious conduct," the complaint states.
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