FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law celebrates Mass during the ceremony for Our Lady of the Snows, in St. Mary Major's Basilica, in Rome, Italy. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law stepped down under pressure in 2002 over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)
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Key dates in the life of Cardinal Bernard Law, who died early Wednesday at age 86.
- Nov. 4, 1931: Bernard Law is born in Torreon, Mexico; the only child of a U.S. Air Force colonel and a mother who converted to Roman Catholicism from Presbyterianism.
- 1953: Law graduates from Harvard University with a degree in medieval history.
- 1961: Law is ordained as a priest.
- 1968: Law takes a job at the ecumenical office of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
- 1973: Law is named bishop of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau in Missouri.
- January 1984: Law becomes archbishop of Boston.
- 1985: The Vatican elevates Law to cardinal.
- 1998: Law travels to Cuba to support Catholics in the communist island nation.
- 1999: Law leads a delegation of Catholic and Jewish leaders to Israel.
- January 2002: The Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal explodes when defrocked priest John Geoghan is accused of molesting 130 children; documents show Law and other church officials knew of the alleged abuse, yet gave Geoghan new parish assignments.
- Dec. 13, 2002: Law resigns as archbishop; an earlier attempt to resign was rejected by Pope John Paul II.
- 2003: A report by the Massachusetts attorney general says more than 1,000 children may have been molested by more than 250 priests and church workers from 1940 to 2000.
- February 2003: Law moves into a convent in Clinton, Maryland, owned by the Sisters of Mercy of Alma, a conservative order of nuns based in Michigan.
- July 1, 2003: Pope John Paul II names Bishop Sean O'Malley as the new archbishop of Boston.
- May 27, 2004: The Vatican names Law archpriest of St. Mary Major Basilica in Rome.
- April 11, 2005: Despite being disgraced, Law leads a Mass for thousands at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to mourn the death of Pope John Paul II.
- Nov. 21, 2011: Law retires as an archpriest in Rome.
- Dec. 20, 2017: Law dies at age 86 in Rome.
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law celebrates Mass during the ceremony for Our Lady of the Snows, in St. Mary Major's Basilica, in Rome, Italy. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law recently had been hospitalized in Rome. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law has his skull cap adjusted during the ceremony for Our Lady of the Snows, in St. Mary Major's Basilica in Rome, Italy. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law recently had been hospitalized in Rome. Law stepped down under pressure in 2002 over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 file photo, US Cardinal Bernard Law celebrates Mass during a ceremony for Our Lady of the Snows in St. Mary Major's Basilica, in Rome, Italy. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law stepped down under pressure in 2002 over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law celebrates Mass during the ceremony for Our Lady of the Snows, in St. Mary Major's Basilica, in Rome, Italy. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law stepped down under pressure in 2002 over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law blesses a child during the ceremony for Our Lady of the Snows, in St. Mary Major's Basilica, in Rome, Italy. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law stepped down under pressure in 2002 over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Tuesday, March 12, 2013 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law attends a Mass for the election of a new pope celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Sodano, not pictured, inside St. Peter's Basilica, at the Vatican. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law recently had been hospitalized in Rome. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 5, 2010 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law celebrates Mass during the ceremony for Our Lady of the Snows, in St. Mary Major's Basilica, in Rome, Italy. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law recently had been hospitalized in Rome. Law stepped down under pressure in 2002 over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Friday, Aug. 5, 2011 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law celebrates Mass during the ceremony for Our Lady of the Snows, in St. Mary Major's Basilica, in Rome, Italy. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law stepped down under pressure in 2002 over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Thursday, Feb. 20, 2014 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law leaves the first session of an extraordinary consistory in the Synod Hall in Vatican City. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law recently had been hospitalized in Rome. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2002 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law, right, departs a news conference during the second day of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops annual meeting in Washington. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law, who recently had been hospitalized in Rome, died early Wednesday. Law stepped down under pressure in 2002 over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases. (AP Photo/Ken Lambert, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Wednesday June 7, 2006 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law, right, kisses Pope Benedict XVI's hand at the end of the weekly general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law recently had been hospitalized in Rome and died early Wednesday. (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2002 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law, of the Boston archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, pauses during testimony in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston. Law was answering questions about his knowledge and handling of the Father John Geoghan child sex abuse case. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law recently had been hospitalized in Rome. Law stepped down under pressure in 2002 over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases. (George Martell/Boston Herald via AP, Pool, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2002 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law, of the Boston archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, testifies in Suffolk Superior Court in Boston. Law was answering questions about his knowledge and handling of the Father John Geoghan child sex abuse case. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law recently had been hospitalized in Rome. (George Martell/Boston Herald via AP, Pool, File)
The Associated Press
FILE - In this Thursday, Aug. 5, 2004 file photo, Cardinal Bernard Law has his skull cap adjusted during the ceremony for Our Lady of the Snows, in St. Mary Major's Basilica in Rome, Italy. An official with the Catholic Church said Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017, that Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at 86. Law recently had been hospitalized in Rome. Law stepped down under pressure in 2002 over his handling of clergy sex abuse cases. (AP Photo/Domenico Stinellis, File)
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