BOSTON– Pope Francis accepted the resignation of Cardinal Sean O’Malley as archbishop of Boston on Monday and appointed the current bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, Richard Henning, to replace him as leader of one of the most important Catholic archdioceses in the United States.
The Vatican announcement did not mention O’Malley’s other main role as Francis’ top adviser on combating clergy sexual abuse as head of the Pope’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, suggesting he would remain in that capacity until a new leader of the commission is appointed. he is named.
St. John Paul II had chosen O’Malley to take power in Boston in 2003, at the height of the clergy sex abuse scandal that had broken there following an investigation by the Boston Globe newspaper. Revelations of years of abuse and cover-ups by the Church led to the downfall of then-Archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace in December 2002.
At 80, O’Malley is five years above the normal retirement age for bishops. His successor, Henning, 59, of Rockville Centre, Long Island, has been bishop of Providence since last year.
Francis has long expressed his esteem for O’Malley and selected him as a founding member of his chief cardinal advisor, known as the C9.
In that role, O’Malley, a Franciscan like the pope, advised Francis not only on child protection issues but also helped engineer reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.
Born in Ohio and ordained a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in 1970, O’Malley came to Massachusetts in 1992 to serve as bishop of Fall River, a diocese rocked by a sexual abuse scandal involving a priest. He convicted of sexually abusing children. O’Malley was tasked with resolving abuse allegations.
The experience came in handy in 2003, when, after spending time as bishop of the Palm Beach diocese in Florida, he was named by Pope John Paul II archbishop of Boston. Once again, he took charge of a district rocked by sexual abuse; this time a much higher profile crisis involving dozens of priests.
But David Clohessy, former national director of the Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, or SNAP, criticized O’Malley for “a masterful job with his public relations, but a terribly disappointing job with the ongoing abuse and cover-up scandals.” of the church. “
“He has carefully crafted the impression of a ‘reformer,’ while refusing to take some of the simplest, most proven measures to warn parents, parishioners and the public about potentially threatening clergy,” Clohessy said in a statement.
O’Malley’s relations with Francisco have not always been easy. In 2018, she issued a harsh statement rebuking Francis after the pope dismissed abuse claims by Chilean survivors of the country’s most notorious abuser.
O’Malley’s stern tone was something of a wake-up call for Francisco, who eventually apologized after commissioning an investigation into the Chilean scandal.
More recently, O’Malley’s commission noted “serious problems” in the way the Vatican had handled the case of a former Jesuit artist, the Rev. Marko Rupnik, prompting Francis to order the case reopened.
Henning expressed gratitude to Pope Francis for the new appointment and described O’Malley as a faithful servant who “has served the Church of Boston for many faithful and joyful years” during his tenure.
“I thank His Holiness Pope Francis for his trust in me and for having given me this new mission as Archbishop of Boston. “I receive this appointment trusting in divine Providence, aware that this is the Church of the Lord and that I am nothing more than an unworthy servant,” he stated in a statement.
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