BOSTON, USA - Boston's Cardinal Bernard Law acknowledged for the first time in court papers that he had received a 1984 letter outlining allegations a priest had molested young boys, the Boston Herald reported on Tuesday.
The cardinal allowed the Rev. John J. Geoghan to remain an active priest until 1993, transferring him from one Boston parish to another, the newspaper said.
Law officially defrocked Geoghan in 1998.
Geoghan, 65, is the object of at least 84 lawsuits from men charging he molested them during his years as a priest in six Boston archdiocese parishes between 1962 and 1995, the Herald said.
He also faces criminal prosecution. His trial on charges of rape, indecent assault and battery is tentatively set for Sept. 7.
Law's official court responses state that he had "no personal knowledge" of whether the charges contained in the letter that alleged Geoghan had molested seven boys were true. The cardinal said such charges would have to be proved at a trial, the Boston Herald said.
Archdiocese officials referred all questions to the Rogers Law Firm. Wilson Rogers III, who is handling the matter for the church, was unavailable, his secretary told Reuters.
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