Is There A Warrant Out For Cardinal Law?

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I know of certain people who seem to literally foam at the mouth at the mere mention of Cardinal Bernard Law. From what they say, the cardinal was completely at fault in the Boston sex abuse scandal and that he must go to prison (preferrably after being whipped numerous times and then dragged through the streets of Boston), but since he is now in Rome at St. Mary Major, he is somehow “getting off scot-free”.

But seriously now, this is my question: is there an actual warrant out for the arrest of Cardinal Law? Has the Massachusetts State Attorney’s office sought his extradition from Italy? If not, then why not? Serious question, and excuse my attemp at humor in the first paragraph (though it is quite close to the truth with some, I am sure).
 
no he has never been accused of any crime or indicted in Mass or anywhere else. If you have an arguement with how Mass. authorities are handling those cases, why not take it up with them?
 
puzzleannie said:
no he has never been accused of any crime or indicted in Mass or anywhere else. If you have an arguement with how Mass. authorities are handling those cases, why not take it up with them?
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I have no argument on the matter, puzzleannie. Personally, I do believe what the good cardinal has said, that is, he trusted too much in “experts” who kept telling him that pedophile priests could be “cured” and then re-assigned to new duties. Now that we know better, I am sure that Cardinal Law is horrified over what happened.

Still, based on what some people insist (that he needs to be in jail), I am curious as to whether an actual warrant is out for him, a la Roman Polanski. If there was, then those who demand his extradition would have a case. But if there is not, then what crime is he being charged with that demands that he be extradited?
 
mozier said:
If there was, then those who demand his extradition would have a case. But if there is not, then what crime is he being charged with that demands that he be extradited?
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If you can cite someone who is making these claims, we could assess them more intelligently. Right now we’re simply trying to speculate on your vague recollection of someone else’s argument.

That said, I don’t recall a warrant for Cardinal Law ever being mentioned. I suspect this would have been mentioned in the press when he was appointed to his new post.
 
The concern is that even though there may not be a formal warrant, he may have left the country for his new assignment prior to investigators being able to ask him all the questions they would want to ask. To be fair, I do not know this definitively, and haven’t even heard anyone from the Massachusetts AG’s office or the Boston DA’s office suggest it. It is just a nagging concern on my part. If he would make a public statement offering to return to the jurisdiction should the AG or DA wish to speak to him, I would feel better.

As far as “relying too much on experts” is concerned, I would buy that after a first, or maybe even second offense, but beyond that, I just don’t buy it. Even giving him the benefit of the doubt, that he believed these men could be rehabilitated, he excersised poor judgement, and his flock rightfully lost their faith in his ability to shepherd them. If the sheep do not follow the shepherd, he is of no use, so even assuming his intentions were entirely good, his poor judgement justified his removal as Archbishop of Boston. And I love Cardinal O’Malley. It was nice to see my own Cardinal Archbishop (Di Nardo) sitting next to him at the Solemn Vespers and address to the Bishops last week. From my seat here in Houston, it appears that the Catholics of Boston have a wonderful shepherd indeed.
 
Ah Brockmac, that is an excellent answer, and covered much of what I was wondering. Thank you.
 
brockmac said:
The concern is that even though there may not be a formal warrant, he may have left the country for his new assignment prior to investigators being able to ask him all the questions they would want to ask. To be fair, I do not know this definitively, and haven’t even heard anyone from the Massachusetts AG’s office or the Boston DA’s office suggest it. It is just a nagging concern on my part. If he would make a public statement offering to return to the jurisdiction should the AG or DA wish to speak to him, I would feel better.

As far as “relying too much on experts” is concerned, I would buy that after a first, or maybe even second offense, but beyond that, I just don’t buy it. Even giving him the benefit of the doubt, that he believed these men could be rehabilitated, he excersised poor judgement, and his flock rightfully lost their faith in his ability to shepherd them. If the sheep do not follow the shepherd, he is of no use, so even assuming his intentions were entirely good, his poor judgement justified his removal as Archbishop of Boston. And I love Cardinal O’Malley. It was nice to see my own Cardinal Archbishop (Di Nardo) sitting next to him at the Solemn Vespers and address to the Bishops last week. From my seat here in Houston, it appears that the Catholics of Boston have a wonderful shepherd indeed.
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And there’s no way to compel him to answer questions, even from Italy, if it’s held to be necessary? It could probably be done even without extradition, by videolink or something.
 
LilyM said:
And there’s no way to compel him to answer questions, even from Italy, if it’s held to be necessary? It could probably be done even without extradition, by videolink or something.
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To answer your question, no. Since US law holds no power in Italy, no one in Italy can be compelled to do this or that by a US court. Instead, he can be extradited if prosecutors in the US charge him with crimes covered by the extradition treaty, and the Italian courts agree to it. As brockmac suggested, he could volunteer to cooperate, and use your videolink suggestion. I’m not sure whether that alone would satisfy his testifying under oath to for instance a grand jury. Perhaps he could do so at the US Embassy or an American military base.
 
MY OWN OPINION - NOT BASED ON FACTS.

Remember Cardinal Law was sent of to a monestary here in the US for several month prior to being recalled to Rome. I always thought that the reason for this was to make sure that the civil authorities didn’t have to extradite him. If they had any real grounds to indict, they had plenty of time to do so.
 
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