Newly-released documents show that Cardinal Roger Mahony, the retired archbishop of Los Angeles, tried to obstruct an extensive study of sex-abuse problems in American dioceses.
The cardinal strongly resisted inquiries by researchers from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who had been commissioned by the United States bishops’ conference to study how dioceses handled sex-abuse complaints.
Cardinal Mahony retired in 2011 and his successor, Archbishop José Gomez, has told him “he will no longer have any administrative or public duties” in the archdiocese.