The Roman Catholic archbishop of Milwaukee said this evening he had asked Church authorities to move swiftly to replace him in order to save the Church any further embarrassment, following allegations that he molested an aspiring priest some 20 years ago.
Archbishop Rembert Weakland denied the allegations in a statement issued Thursday, just hours after a national television network aired an interview with his accuser, Mr Paul Marcoux, a 53-year-old former theology student.
But the 75-year-old prelate, who tendered his resignation to the Vatican on April 2nd, said he had asked Rome to "accelerate" the process of finding a replacement for him.
"I have never abused anyone," archbishop Weakland said in the statement, but he added that, "given the climate in today's world, where the Church must regain its credibility, this situation would be an added and continuing distraction from that goal."
"I do not want to be an obstacle to that search on the part of the Church, which I will continue to love with all my heart," he wrote.
The US Roman Catholic Church has been rocked by charges that it harboured sexual predators within its ranks - in some cases, knowingly.
Archbishop Weakland, who has been the figurehead of the Milwaukee archdiocese for 25 years, said he was prevented from commenting on the charges because of a confidentiality provision in a settlement he had reached with Mr Marcoux.
But Marcoux told an ABC morning news show that Weakland assaulted him when he went to him in his 30s as a student, seeking advice about his hopes of entering the priesthood.
AFP