Scandal-hit Boston church gets new bishop

POPE John Paul II named Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley to lead the Boston Archdiocese yesterday, sending a recognised leader in the battle against clerical sex abuse into the epicentre of the scandal in the United States.

Bishop O'Malley set a humble tone as he looked at the job ahead of him.

"The path has never been easy but today it seems overwhelming," he said at a news conference. "Still, I feel privileged to be called."