Archbishop quits in wake of cover-up charge against archdiocese
VATICAN CITY – The embattled archbishop of St. Paul and Minneapolis and his deputy resigned Monday after years of pressure, an indication Pope Francis is making good on his promise that no one is above the law when it comes to covering up for clergy who sexually abuse children.
Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche stepped down after Minnesota prosecutors charged their archdiocese with having failed to protect children from unspeakable harm by a pedophile priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys.
Separately, the Vatican indicted Jozef Wesolowski, its own former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, on charges of sexually abusing minors in the Caribbean country and possessing child pornography. He will be the highest-ranking Vatican official ever to stand trial for a sex crime.
The developments came days after Francis approved the creation of a tribunal inside the Vatican to hear cases of bishops accused of failing to protect minors, answering years of criticism that top-ranked churchmen were immune to punishment for ignoring or covering up for priests who rape and molest children.
They quit under a part of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.
Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a corporation with having “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by the priest. The complaint did not name any individuals.
The charges came two years after diocesan canon lawyer-turned-whistleblower Jennifer Haselberger alleged widespread cover-up of clergy sex misconduct in the archdiocese, saying archbishops and their top staff lied to the public and ignored the U.S. bishops’ pledge to have no tolerance of priests who abuse.
Haselberger, who was Nienstedt’s archivist, accused the church of using a system of record-keeping that helped conceal the backgrounds of guilty priests who remained on assignment.
She said she repeatedly warned Nienstedt and his aides about the risk of keeping accused priests in ministry, but they took action only in one case. As a result of raising alarms, she said she was eventually shut out of meetings about priest misconduct, and resigned.
Nienstedt refused to resign after Haselberger’s accusations, and later after announcing that allegations of inappropriate sexual behavior had been made against him. He denied misconduct and the archdiocese hired a firm to investigate. No results were ever announced and recently Nienstedt hired his own attorney to look at the matter again.
In a statement Monday, Nienstedt said he was stepping down to give the archdiocese a new beginning. But he insisted he was leaving “with a clear conscience knowing that my team and I have put in place solid protocols to ensure the protection of minors and vulnerable adults.”
The resignations bring to 18 the number of bishops who have stepped down after being publicly criticized for covering up for abusers, according to Anne Barrett Doyle of the online resource BishopAccountability.org.