The US prison inmate who strangled child-molesting priest John Geoghan was convicted of murder after failing to convince a jury he was delusional when he killed one of the central figures in the Boston Archdiocese sex scandal.

A US inmate who strangled a convicted child molester priest behind bars said tonight that he decided to kill him after the clergyman brushed off criticism that he had “destroyed all kinds of lives.”

DEFROCKED Catholic priest Paul Shanley, a central figure in the Boston Archdiocese clergy sex abuse scandal, was jailed for 12 to 15 years yesterday for raping a boy repeatedly in the 1980s.

Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, the most notorious figure in the sex scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese, has been convicted of raping and fondling a boy at his church during the 1980s.

THE Boston Archdiocese, the epicentre of the US clergy sex abuse crisis that has shaken the Roman Catholic Church, released a report yesterday showing that 162 of its priests have been accused of molesting 815 minors since 1950.

A grand jury charged prison inmate Joseph Druce with murder today over the death of paedophile priest and fellow inmate John Geoghan, who was found strangled and beaten in his prison cell, authorities said.

The Boston Archdiocese has agreed to pay $85m (€76m) to settle more than 550 court claims from people who allege Roman Catholic priests abused them, a leading lawyer in the cases said.

US PROSECUTORS investigating the prison death of defrocked priest John Geoghan want to know if security procedures broke down at the facility, allowing a neo-Nazi who hated homosexuals the opportunity to confront a convicted paedophile.

INVESTIGATORS are awaiting results of an autopsy on the catholic priest at the centre of a sex-abuse scandal who met a violent death in a Massachusetts prison.

Former priest John Geoghan, a convicted child molester who became a central figure in the Catholic church’s sex abuse scandal in the United States, has been killed in prison, a Boston state spokesman said tonight.

Facing rekindled outrage from priests and parishioners over new revelations of clergy misconduct, Boston Cardinal Bernard Law stayed away from the Cathedral of the Holy Cross today as protesters renewed calls for his resignation.

THE Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy rather than face a costly legal battle that could last years.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy rather than face a costly legal battle that could last years.

The Boston Archdiocese and alleged sex abuse victims of defrocked Catholic priest John Geoghan have reached a tentative $10m (€10.06m) settlement.

Some advocates for sex abuse victims have said Pope John Paul II’s first public comments in Canada on priests who molest children sent the wrong message: that the Roman Catholic Church cares more about clergy than those who were abused.

BOSTON Cardinal Bernard Law, head of the Roman Catholic archdiocese at the centre of a national child sex scandal afflicting the Church, faced a new round of questioning yesterday over his handling of priests accused of molesting children.

In the 19th century, the Institute of Living treated Christian missionaries who were having trouble readjusting to life in the US after years abroad.

The Archdiocese of Miami secretly paid several men to settle sexual abuse allegations against a Roman Catholic priest, church officials have acknowledged.

The Archdiocese of Boston has reached a multi-million dollar settlement with dozens of people who claimed they were sexually molested by a former Catholic priest.