Cardinal accuses Vatican official of abuse cover-up

Internal Catholic Church bickering over the handling of its sexual abuse scandal has escalated to a new level, with one cardinal accusing another of a cover-up. The accusations were leveled by Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna against Italian Cardinal Angelo Sodano, who served for 16 years from 1990 to 2006 as secretary of state, the Vatican's second-most important position. Schoenborn, in what was supposed to have been a private conversation with Austrian newspaper editors last month, accused Sodano of having blocked an investigation of former Austrian Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer. Austrian Catholic news agency Kathpress published a summary of the conversation Saturday, with Italian newspapers giving it prominent coverage in their Sunday edition. Groer stepped down as archbishop of Vienna in 1995 after allegations that he had sexually abused young seminarians in the past. He died in 2003 never admitting guilt or facing charges. Schoenborn told the journalists that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who then headed the Vatican's doctrinal department and is now pope, wanted a full scale investigation of Groer in 1995 but was blocked by Sodano, according to Kathpress.