The decision by Pope John Paul to accept Cardinal Law's resignation yesterday is to be welcomed, even if it is a belated recognition that senior figures in the Catholic Church have mismanaged the scandal of clerical child sex abuse. Indeed the word mismanaged is inadequate to describe a response which so often has seemed not so much incompetent as a deliberate attempt to cover up what was perceived to be damaging to the Church.
That it has taken almost a year of shocking revelations by the Boston Globe newspaper - following hard-fought court actions for the discovery of documents- as well as revolt by loyal Catholics of the Voice of the Faithful group and growing rebellion by priests of the Boston archdiocese to bring this about indicates the deep resistance in Rome to change where its strategy for handling the clerical child sex abuse crisis is concerned.
Nor should the resignation of Cardinal Law be seen just yet as indicating a sea-change in Vatican attitudes on the issue. In this instance there was simply no choice. Cardinal Law's position was untenable. He had lost the confidence of a great many of his priests and laity, and this was likely to get worse following his forthcoming court appearances.
His resignation will mean renewed focus on how Cardinal Desmond Connell and Cardinal Murphy O'Connor in Westminster have dealt with the issue. Both have questions to answer, particularly Cardinal Connell. There is no doubt his position was further damaged following revelations in the Prime Time programme Cardinal Errors.
His appointment in 1997 of Father Noel Reynolds to the National Rehabilitation Institute in Dún Laoghaire, where there was a children's ward, and without telling anyone there of "concerns" expressed about the priest's behaviour in a Wicklow parish, indicated a cavalier attitude to people there as well as to the Church's own guidelines on clerical child sex abuse.
There was also his handling of Ms Marie Collins's complaints about Father Paul McGennis, his loan to Father Ivan Payne, and his handling of the Tony Walsh case.
This damage would appear to be recognised among the Irish bishops themselves. On November 20th three of them met the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, at their request and in his office, to discuss the type of inquiry he is planning into clerical child sex abuse in the Republic.
As the most senior bishop in the Republic it was expected Cardinal Connell would be there. He was not. The three bishops in attendance were the Catholic primate Archbishop Seán Brady, Bishop Bill Murphy of Kerry, and Bishop Eamon Walsh, apostolic administrator in Ferns.