Florida priest resigns over abuse claim

The Pope has accepted O'Connell's resignation

An American Roman Catholic bishop has resigned from his post in Florida after admitting he molested a teenager more than 25 years ago.

Anthony O'Connell is the highest ranked Catholic clergyman in America to step down following such allegations.

Earlier this week, the Church's Boston archdiocese agreed to pay more than $70 million in compensation to men who alleged they had been abused by local priest John Geoghan.

Mr O'Connell was forced to resign after he admitted inappropriately touching a then 15-year-old boy during tenure at a church in Missouri in the late 1970s.

High profile cases

The alleged victim, 40-year-old Christopher Dixon, said the pair had touched in bed after he approached the priest for counselling.

The Boston diocese has agreed to pay out $70 million to alleged victims of Geoghan

The Vatican said on Wednesday that the Pope had accepted Mr O'Connell's resignation.

Mr O'Connell had accepted a post in Palm Beach, Florida after the then bishop J. Keith Symons himself resigned following accusations he became sexually involved with boys.

The case is the latest in a series of high-profile abuse claims that has rocked America's Catholic communities.

In Boston the Church has agreed to pay out $70 million to 86 alleged victims of defrocked priest John Geoghan.

Geoghan, who was sentenced to nine to 10 years for assaulting a then ten-year-old boy, still faces charges relating to other cases.

Further claims

An additional 50 men have since come forward claiming they were molested by Geoghan and the Church has admitted it does not have insurance to cover the claims.

It may be forced to sell some of its churches and other properties.

The settlement is the largest ever reached by an American-based Catholic church for child molestation.

Besides Geoghan, 48 other sex abuse claims are currently pending against other priests in the Boston Archdiocese.

And nationwide pressure groups estimated that there have been 1,600 cases across America involving alleged paedophile priests, with some representing dozens of alleged victims and a total settlement cost of more than $700 million.