Pope Francis accepts resignation of NYC bishop accused of abuse

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of a New York City bishop after he was accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in the 1980s.

Auxiliary Bishop John Jenik is the latest head to roll in the ongoing abuse scandal. The Vatican announced his resignation had been accepted Thursday.

For decades the Vatican turned a blind eye to bishops and cardinals who abused minors and adults or covered up the crimes.

Jenik had denied the allegation when it was first brought to the New York City archdiocese last year. Cardinal Timothy Dolan, however, said the archdiocese’s lay review board had found the allegation to be “credible and substantiated.”

It was Dolan’s archdiocese that received complaints against ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, cases that launched the new reckoning in the U.S. hierarchy. /kga