Los Angeles archdiocese, Cardinal Mahony settle sex abuse cases

LOS ANGELES (REUTERS) - The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony and a former priest have agreed to pay a total of nearly US$10 million (S$12 million) to settle four child sex abuse cases brought against them, lawyers for the victims said on Tuesday.

Cardinal Mahony, who retired in 2011 as head of the largest US archdiocese and is now in Rome taking part in choosing a new pope, was accused of helping a confessed paedophile priest evade law enforcement by sending him out of state to a church-run treatment centre, then placing the priest back in the Los Angeles ministry.

As part of the agreement approved by a Los Angeles judge earlier this month, none of the parties admitted wrongdoing, according to a plaintiff's attorney in the case, Mr Vince Finaldi.

But Mr Finaldi said the settlement, together with the recent release of internal church records documenting the role of Cardinal Mahony and others in covering up child sexual abuse by the clergy, comes "as close to an admission of guilt as you're going to get from the archdiocese".