VATICAN CITY (AP) — The archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, and a deputy bishop have resigned after prosecutors there charged the archdiocese with failing to protect children from a pedophile priest. The Vatican says Pope Francis has accepted the resignations of Archbishop John Nienstedt and Auxiliary Bishop Lee Anthony Piche.

They resigned under the code of canon law that allows bishops to resign before they retire because of illness or some other “grave” reason that makes them unfit for office.

 

Earlier this month, prosecutors charged the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a corporation of having “turned a blind eye” to repeated reports of inappropriate behavior by a priest who was later convicted of molesting two boys. No individual was named in the indictment.

A critic of Archbishop John Nienstedt says his resignation from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis was necessary because the sex abuse scandal there has become overwhelming. The Rev. Michael Tegeder of St. Francis Cabrini Church in Minneapolis has been calling for Nienstedt’s resignation for two years.

Tegeder says Nienstedt has undermined the archdiocese and the safety of its children. He says it’s time to pick up the pieces and find a new direction. He says Nienstedt’s resignation is a sign of hope that change is possible.