Cardinal Bevilacqua's grace, disputes here recalled
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Cardinal Bevilacqua answers questions from students during the Youth Forum on Violence at Cardinal O'Hara High School. -
One of his flock kisses the cheek of newly installed Bishop Anthony Bevilacqua outside St. Paul's Cathedral in 1983. -
Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua, archbishop of Philadelphia, right, greets Pope John Paul II in July 1991.
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A Tuesday funeral is planned for Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, whose four years in Pittsburgh were marked by controversy that escalated over 15 years in Philadelphia, where his social justice legacy has been eroded by a continuing sex abuse scandal.
Cardinal Bevilacqua, who retired in 2003, died Tuesday night at age 88. He suffered from cancer and dementia, but faced demands to testify in court about why he had failed to remove credibly accused child molesters from ministry. That scandal all but paralyzed the Philadelphia archdiocese, where Archbishop Charles Chaput was sent last year in hope of bringing renewal.
Public viewing will be held Monday and Tuesday in Philadelphia's Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul. The funeral Mass begins at 2 p.m. Tuesday. The homily will be preached by Monsignor Louis D'Addezio, a priest who worked closely with him.
Condolences from Pope Benedict XVI didn't mention the scandal, which led to the arrest of one priest on charges of child endangerment and conspiracy. The pope praised the cardinal's "long-standing commitment to social justice and the pastoral care of immigrants and his expert contribution to the revision of the church's law."
During four years in Pittsburgh, his worst controversy was over liturgy, and he emphasized concern for the poor around the world and at his doorstep. Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh, who was then-Bishop Bevilacqua's secretary during his last months in Pittsburgh, recalled that he would talk to homeless people on the street and bring them up to his office.
"He would not only help them with money but spend maybe a half hour with them," he said.
Bishop Zubik called his former bishop "a man of deep compassion, dedicated to serving the poorest of the poor."
He was the ninth of 11 children born to illiterate Italian immigrants. Trained as a canon lawyer for the Diocese of Brooklyn, he became a civil attorney so he could aid immigrants. He became an important adviser to Pope John Paul II on global refugees as well as canon law.
First Published February 2, 2012 12:00 am
