The resignation of West Virginia Bishop Michael Bransfield was announced just as the four-member U.S. delegation was sitting down with Francis in his private study in the Apostolic Palace. Bishop Bransfield had been investigated for an alleged groping incident in 2007 and was implicated in court testimony in 2012 in an infamous Philadelphia priestly sex abuse case. The Vatican said Francis accepted his resignation Thursday and appointed Baltimore Archbishop William Lori to take over Bransfield’s Wheeling-Charleston diocese temporarily. Francis removed McCarrick as a cardinal in July after a U.S. church investigation found the allegation credible. Article Continued BelowA statement issued by DiNardo after the papal audience made no mention of his request for a Vatican investigation.

Source: thestar September 13, 2018 13:18 UTC