Pope orders replacement of archbishop in paedophile scandal

The Pope has ordered the temporary replacement of an archbishop who is facing calls for his resignation amid claims that he ignored warnings about two paedophile priests.

The Pope has ordered the temporary replacement of an archbishop who is facing calls for his resignation amid claims that he ignored warnings about two paedophile priests.

The Most Rev John Ward, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff, will be replaced while he recovers from deep vein thrombosis, the Vatican said yesterday. A few days ago, a petition was sent from clerics in Wales to the Papal Nuncio - the Pope's representative in Britain - demanding his resignation.

The archbishop's duties will be undertaken by the Right Rev Edwin Regan, the Bishop of Wrexham. Canon Robert Reardon, Archbishop Ward's spokesman, said: "The measure reflects the Vatican's concern for the Archdiocese of Cardiff and the difficulties it had over the recent months. Archbishop Ward, who is 71, has been given the time and space to convalesce without having to have any responsibilities for the diocese."

While the Vatican said the move was temporary, there is speculation that the archbishop may not return to his duties. Archbishop Ward insists he did nothing knowingly wrong in his conduct over two paedophile priests. But last month he issued an apology in a letter read at masses in Wales for the "distress, anguish, hurt and betrayal" caused to their victims. In 1998 he ordained one of priests, Fr Joe Jordan, inthe knowledge that he had been tried and acquitted of indecently assaulting a boy.

Jordan, who used football to meet young boys, went on to indecently assault two nine-year-olds while he was a priest. This year he was sentenced to eight years in jail for those offences and for indecently assaulting a 12-year-old boy in the 1980s. Hundreds of pornographic images of children were found on his computer.

Archbishop Ward passed letters of complaint about Jordan to his secretary, Fr John Lloyd, who is also now in prison for eight years, for paedophilia.

The archbishop had refused to resign and stressed that only the Pope could force his retirement. But after a meeting with the Papal Nuncio, Archbishop Pablo Puente, he said he was prepared to let another bishop assist him in his duties and eventually to succeed him.

A few days later, in early November, the archbishop was taken to hospital within hours of a BBC Panorama programme in which he was criticised by fellow clerics for ignoring their concerns. His spokesman said the thrombosis was to do with air travel.