Cardinal apologizes for sex abuse by priests

LONG BEACH, California (CNN) -- Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the Los Angeles Roman Catholic archdiocese, apologized at a Mass on Monday night for recently revealed incidents of sexual abuse by the church's clergy across the country.

The cardinal, who heads the nation's largest archdiocese, said after a news conference that he will support victims who want to break confidentiality agreements they had signed as part of settlements with the church for past abuse cases.

"Confidentiality agreements don't mean much any more in any kind of jurisprudence," Mahony said. "If it helps the victims, I could care less about confidentiality agreements."

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He said a toll-free hotline has been set up to report allegations of abuse.

At the Mass, attended by more than 100 priests and deacons, he promised to remove anyone accused of impropriety in the 287 parishes he oversees. He said he was "outraged and found it incomprehensible" that priests would harm children, and he vowed to enforce a zero-tolerance policy toward sexual abuse in the clergy.

"We will not knowingly place in any kind of pastoral assignment, ministry or apostolate, any priest, deacon or lay person who has been determined to be guilty of the sexual abuse of minors," Mahony said.

He said parishes and religious communities have been asked to review their files for any allegations of sexual misconduct, and urged perpetrators to come forward.

Mahony said law enforcement authorities are investigating sexual abuse accusations directed at priests who have since been dismissed or who had been convicted of sexual molestation years ago.

"These are old cases. In most of the cases the police were involved with them years ago, some of them decades ago," Mahony said.

The new revelations concerned incidents that happened years ago, according to the cardinal, but the recent scandal has brought many new accusations to the attention of the church and law enforcement.

"These priests themselves have since retired and some of them have even publicly apologized in the past," Mahony said. "But we have been very diligent about working with law enforcement about this." He refused to disclose the names or number of priests under investigation.

Mahony acknowledged that law enforcement authorities are investigating a case of abuse based on a recent anonymous call to his archdiocese, but he would not provide details.

"Restoring confidence is a long process. And so all we can do is pronounce and proclaim what we're doing and what we intend to do," the archbishop told reporters.

Mahony said he has met with a number of people who said they had been molested by priests, calling it a "heart-wrenching experience."

Asked whether the cases point to a need for the church to reconsider its requirement that priests be celibate, Mahony said, "I personally don't think there's any connection between child abuse and celibacy. You've got to remember 90 to 95 percent of the child abuse in our country happens in homes and families, sadly."