Pope Francis has dismissed from the priesthood Robert McWilliams, a Cleveland man who is serving a life sentence in prison for sexually exploiting children.

Cardinal O’Malley said polarization and opposition to Pope Francis includes some prelates in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, but he did not name anyone.

Father Donald Cozzens was rightly recognized as a prophetic voice and an advocate for church reform throughout his life and priestly ministry.

Pope Francis revealed for the first time that the archbishop had given “small caresses and massages” to his secretary, which “was a sin” but “not the gravest of sins.”

The case came as an unhappy shock to Catholics all over the United States who might have hoped that years of procedural changes would have put an end to the ordination of priests like the Rev. Robert McWilliams.

Cardinal George Pell, jailed for more than a year for sex abuse crimes he ultimately was cleared of, said the experience enabled him to understand suffering as a redemptive process that allows one to identify closely with Christ.