In a Dec. 15 letter, the Vatican’s Secretariat of State said Pope Benedict XVI had “decided not to accept” an appeal from the Council of Parishes (CP), which represents parishioners fighting to keep their churches open.
The decision brings new pressure to end a drawn-out standoff between the Archdiocese of Boston, which closed 66 parishes in the wake of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, and groups of disgruntled parishioners who continue to occupy five church buildings after years of round-the-clock vigils.
Peter Borre, chair of CP, said the Archdiocese could still reverse its decision, as it has in past cases, and re-open the parishes in question.
Jon Rogers, spokesman for the vigil at St. Francis X. Cabrini Parish in Scituate, said that the archdiocesan authorities “can give us what we want,” Rogers said. “Or they can arrest us.”
