Pope John Paul II has chosen the Catholic bishop of Palm Beach, Florida, to succeed the disgraced Cardinal Law as archbishop of Boston, the Vatican announced today.
Dr Sean Patrick O'Malley - a native of Lakewood, Ohio, and a member of the Franciscan order - is among a handful of bishops in the US Catholic Church who have been called in to straighten out troubled dioceses.
Dr Bernard Law resigned in December after a scandal in which leaders of his diocese allowed priests who were known sex abusers to remain in active ministry instead of defrocking them or reporting them to civil authorities.
The Boston archdiocese has been run by a special administrator since then.
Last year the Pope named Dr O'Malley as bishop of the Diocese of Palm Beach, Florida, to succeed Bishop Anthony O'Connell, who stepped down after admitting he molested a former seminary student more than 25 years ago.