Quote from the article
"To have replaced Cardinal Law earlier would have caused comment; it might have been seen as an implicit criticism of Pope John Paul II for having given him the honorary Vatican position. Making the change now, after Cardinal Law’s 80th birthday, looks more like a routine personnel shift.
But then again, the announcement was definitely not routine. So perhaps the Vatican is sending a subtle message: that the prelates who bear responsibility for the sex-abuse scandal will not intentionally be subjected to further disgrace, but neither will they be given a ceremonial send-off. The business-as-usual attitude—the assumption that a cardinal will be given high honors regardless of his track record—is no longer in place."
Yes, heaven for fend we should have any criticism of his predecessor's breathtakingly idiotic decision to put our pedophile protector -in-chief in a cushy Vatican job.
Subtle messages are hardly what is called for. Bishops, including the Bishops of Rome, are deaf to subtlety here, which is hardly surprising since they are deaf to the cries of raped children. Law should be spending the rest of his life in jail, or failing an adequate response from the state in a very cold monastery, stripped of all ecclesiastical honors, doing penance for his fundamental betrayal of children under his care. Mahony should have the cell (prison or monastic) next to his.