Cardinal Bernard Law resigns as archbishop of Boston.

His resignation comes four days after it was called for in a letter signed by 58 Boston-area priests. The first Catholic bishop to resign over the clergy sexual abuse scandal in the U.S., Law writes in a letter, “To all those who have suffered from my shortcomings and mistakes, I both apologize and from them beg forgiveness.” He is replaced by temporary apostolic administrator Bishop Richard Lennon. The Massachusetts Attorney General subsequently finds 789 documented cases of molestation by 250 priests in the Boston archdiocese over a period of more than 60 years. The archdiocese agrees to pay $85 million to 552 victims on September 9, 2003.