Catholics United organization urges Mahony to stay home from papal vote

Catholics United has asked Cardinal Mahony to refrain from attending the Papal Conclave and to recuse himself from voting. The group has launched an online petition to ask him to avoid bringing further scandal to the Church by participating.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Cardinal Mahony is being discouraged from attending the Papal Conclave in Rome set for sometime within the next few weeks. Cardinal Mahony has suffered scandal for his role in actively covering up and concealing sex abuse crimes committed by the clergy against children in the 1980s.

The group, Catholics United, is a non-profit, allegedly non-partisan organization. It has drawn up an online petition that asks, "Please do not bring further scandal to our Church that has already been rocked by the sex abuse crisis by attending the Papal Conclave. You have been disciplined and you have lost your ability to have a voice within our Church."

Catholics United has been notorious in some of its positions in the past, dissenting from the clear teaching of the Catholic Church concerning the Right to Life from conception to natural death and other moral teachings of the Catholic Church. It has also been cautioned over using the name Catholic by some due to these contrary positions and its questionable status as an organization which is authentically Catholic. 

Archbishop Jose Gomez has already responded to the revelations by stripping Cardinal Mahony of all public duties. Mahony has been limited in his public ministry after apologizing for his role in the scandal.

Archbishop Gomez has also said that despite the embarrassment for Mahony, he does remain in "good standing" within the Church and is therefore free to attend the papal conclave.

Mahony has already said he plans to attend the conclave, which will choose a successor to Pope Benedict XVI, who said he is resigning his position as of Feb. 28. The conclave is expected to convene sometime around March 15, and could even convene earlier.

At this time, Cardinal Mahony faces no criminal charges for his involvement in the scandal and faces no formal impediment to traveling to Rome.

---

'Help Give every Student and Teacher FREE resources for a world-class Moral Catholic Education'