todayonline.com
06:05 PM Apr 28, 2010
VIENNA (AP) – A newspaper is reporting that a deceased Austrian cardinal remained on the rosters of Vatican congregations even after he stepped down in 1995 following sex abuse allegations.
Der Standard reported Wednesday that Hans Hermann Groer – who was Vienna archbishop from 1986 to 1995 – was listed in the 1999 directory of the Roman Catholic Church as a member of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches and the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.
The Groer scandal broke in 1995 when a 37-year-old former student at a boy’s seminary in the town of Hollabrunn alleged that he abused him repeatedly in the early 1970s. Other accusations followed. Groer stepped down shortly after the first allegations surfaced – officially due to old age. He died in 2003 but never admitted any guilt.
- AP