Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua Full Autopsy Unwarranted, Coroner Rules
A coroner has ruled that a full autopsy for Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, a key witness in a Catholic sex abuse trial who died last month, is unwarranted.
The ruling comes Saturday following the retired archbishop of Philadelphia's death on Jan. 31 at the age of 88. Bevilacqua's death came just a day after a court ruled that he was competent to testify in a sex abuse trial involving clerics and a schoolteacher.
Coroner Walter Hofman has said that he had spoken to Bevilacqua's doctor the night of his death "and we felt very confident that this was not anything we need to look into further," according to Reuters.
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"He was not a healthy man. He had significant pre-existing disease," he added.
Bevilacqua was suffering from dementia and cancer, according to Church officials. Coroner Hofman also described that he had taken bodily fluids from Bevilacqua to determine if there were abnormal levels of any medications he was taking. The results are scheduled to become available at the end of February.
The trial Bevilacqua was set to take part in will commence in March, and concerns two priests, a former priest and a former archdiocese schoolteacher, who are charged with sexually abusing children.
