VATICAN CITY (AP) - American cardinals streamed into Rome on Monday for meetings with the pope and Vatican officials, saying they will take whatever steps are needed to assure American Catholics a sex abuse scandal is under control.
The cardinals planned to meet privately later in the day with Pope John Paul II before two days of formal talks begin Tuesday.
"I think we'll talk about whatever the cardinals want to talk about because we want to make sure that we handle this and that we are able to say to our people that this is under control, that it won't happen again and we're moving in that direction," said Cardinal Theodore McCarrick of Washington, D.C.
The spotlight was on Cardinal Bernard Law, the Boston archbishop facing demands that he resign for his handling of cases of sex abuse by priests in his jurisdiction — especially the cases of two known abusers who were moved from parish to parish.
The Los Angeles Times, quoting an unidentified cardinal, reported Monday that several U.S. cardinals will push the Vatican to ask Law to resign.
The cardinal, who spoke to the Times on the condition his name not be used, said other senior prelates had asked him to take the Law case directly to Vatican officials close to Pope John Paul II. He said he and others would do so Monday during private meetings at the Vatican.
But McCarrick said he didn't think Law should step down.
"The trouble began on his watch and he wants to fix it. Give him a chance," McCarrick told reporters gathered near St. Peter's Square.
Upon arriving in Rome, Law declined any comment, other than to note his remarks Sunday in Boston when he called the scandal a "wake-up call" for the Catholic Church in the United States and said that it "must spark immediate and decisive changes."
Law made a secret visit to the Vatican earlier this month and issued a statement last Tuesday that he had discussed a possible resignation and that he was encouraged to stay on as archbishop.
Bishop Wilton Gregory of Belleville, Ill., president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said that "American Catholics are rightfully disturbed but I don't think that people have lost their faith."
He said he hoped the meetings "will lead to a greater security and future that will be safe for all our children."
The Vatican, which has been accused by American Catholics of moving too slowly, called the extraordinary meeting following the visits by Law and Gregory.
The cardinals will be looking to the Vatican for guidance and support on a wide range of issues, foremost among them whether the church should cease reassigning any sex offenders and set about creating a uniform American policy for reporting abuse claims to police.
The meeting could also set off talks on such usually taboo subjects as the celibacy requirement and the ordination of women and gays in the priesthood.
All 13 U.S. cardinals were invited to the meeting, but 81-year-old Cardinal James Hickey, the retired archbishop of Washington, was too frail to make the trip. Gregory and the conference vice president will also attend.
The prelates will sit down in morning and afternoon sessions, meeting with three top Vatican officials: Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos of the Congregation for the Clergy, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re of the Congregation for Bishops.
John Paul will address the Americans at the start of the meeting.
Since revelations began pouring out early this year, the pope's only public reference to the issue came in a pre-Easter letter to priests March 21. He said a "dark shadow of suspicion" had been cast over priests "by some of our brothers who have betrayed the grace of ordination."
Scandals have cropped up in other countries in recent years, including Austria, Ireland, France and Australia. Last month, an archbishop in John Paul's native Poland was forced to resign, accused of making sexual advances on young seminarians.