Vatican City • The conviction of French Cardinal Philippe Barbarin for failing to report a known pedophile priest to police deepens the crisis confronting an already discredited Catholic Church hierarchy.
The verdict handed down by magistrates Thursday shows the church’s once-untouchable “princes” increasingly are judged accountable for priests who abuse children and the superiors who allowed the abuse to continue.
After centuries of impunity, cardinals from Chile to Australia and points in between are facing justice in the Vatican and government courts for their own sexual misdeeds or for having shielded abusers under their watch.