Pope Francis' close ally, Cardinal Sean O'Malley, retires as archbishop of Boston at age 80

Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of Cardinal Sean O’Malley as archbishop of Boston and named the current bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, Richard Henning, to replace him as leader of one of the most important Catholic archdioceses in the United States

Vatican Cardinal O'Malley Resignation (Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Pope Francis on Monday accepted the resignation of Cardinal Sean O’Malley as archbishop of Boston and named the current bishop of Providence, Rhode Island, Richard Henning, to replace him as leader of one of the most important Catholic archdioceses in the United States.

The announcement from the Vatican didn’t mention O’Malley’s other main role as Francis’ main adviser on fighting clergy sexual abuse as head of the pope’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors, suggesting he would remain in that capacity until a new commission leader is named.

St. John Paul II had tapped O’Malley to take over in Boston in 2003 at the height of the clergy sexual abuse scandal that had exploded there following an investigation by the Boston Globe newspaper. Revelations of years of abuse and coverups by the church led to the downfall of then-archbishop Cardinal Bernard Law, who resigned in disgrace in December 2002.

At age 80, O’Malley is five years beyond the normal retirement age for bishops. His 59-year-old successor, Henning, from Rockville Centre, Long Island, has been bishop of Providence since last year.

Francis has long expressed his esteem for O'Malley and selected him as a founding member of his core cardinal advisers, known as the C9.

In that role O’Malley, a Franciscan friar, advised Francis not only on child protection issues, but also helped design the reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.

O’Malley’s relations with Francis haven’t always been easy. In 2018, he issued a blistering statement rebuking Francis after the pope dismissed claims of abuse by Chilean survivors of the country’s most notorious abuser.

O’Malley’s harsh tone was something of a wakeup call for Francis, who eventually apologized after commissioning an investigation into the Chilean scandal.

More recently, O’Malley’s commission flagged “serious problems” in the way the Vatican had handled the case of an ex-Jesuit artist, the Rev. Marko Rupnik, prompting Francis to order the case reopened.