Bishop Robert Finn leaves a meeting at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' annual fall assembly in Baltimore in 2011.(Photo: Patrick Semansky, AP)
Pope Francis has accepted the resignation of an American bishop who was found guilty of failing to tell police about a suspected pedophile priest.
The Vatican on Tuesday said the pope accepted the resignation of Bishop Robert Finn, who led the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph in Missouri.
It's the first time a U.S. bishop has been removed for covering up for guilty clergy, the Associated Press reported.
The resignation was offered under the code of canon law that allows a bishop "who has become less able to fulfill his office because of ill health or some other grave cause" to resign.
USA TODAY
Before scandal, Finn was prominent conservative voice in Catholic church
In 2012, Finn pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge for failing to report suspected abuse. He waited six months before notifying police about about the Rev. Shawn Ratigan, whose computer contained hundreds of lewd images of children taken in and around churches where he worked, the AP reported.
Finn became the first U.S. bishop to be convicted in a criminal court of failing to report a suspected abuser and was sentenced to two years' probation.
Ratigan pleaded guilty to child pornography charges and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
The Vatican's failure to sanction or remove him fueled victims' complaints that bishops were continuing to enjoy protections even under Francis' "zero tolerance" pledge, the AP reported.
A petition calling for Finn to resign on Change.org attracted more than 260,000 supporters.
Jeff Weis, the petition's organizer, said in the document: "The spiritual, emotional, and moral pain that this issue has caused to Finn's fellow clergymen, diocesan employees, volunteers, parishioners and faithful must begin to come to an end."
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