Disgraced cardinal's name will be removed from Catholic high school

Cardinal Donald Wuerl.
(Image credit: Franco Origlia/Getty Images)

A Catholic cardinal disgraced by the Pennsylvania priest scandal will have his name removed from a Pittsburgh school, CBS affiliate KDKA reports.

Cardinal Donald Wuerl previously led Pittsburgh's Catholic diocese as bishop from 1988 to 2006, earning his name on North Catholic High School. But on Aug. 14, a grand jury released a stunning report naming hundreds of Pennsylvania priests accused of child sex abuse, quickly tainting Wuerl's reputation.

While Wuerl was not named as an abuser, Wuerl's name was mentioned 200 times in the report, and 68 named priests were from the Pittsburgh diocese, per The Washington Post. The report shows Wuerl sometimes went above and beyond to expel predator priests, yet still let some accused remain in ministry. The report sparked a petition to have Wuerl's name removed from North Catholic High School, and even led someone to spray paint over Wuerl's name on the school's sign.

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Nearly 7,500 people had signed the petition by Wednesday morning, prompting Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik to announce that Wuerl's name would be removed.

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Kathryn Krawczyk

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.