Vatican: Trial of dying priest would have been useless

A SENIOR Vatican figure has defended a decision not to defrock an American priest accused of molesting deaf boys, saying the lengthy trial process would have been “useless” because he was dying.

In an article posted on the Vatican’s website, Cardinal William Levada criticised The New York Times, which first reported on internal documents in the case last week.

He said the paper wrongly used the documents to find fault in Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of abuse cases.