Cardinal Keith O’Brien had planned on attending the upcoming conclave in Vatican City to select Pope Benedict’s successor, but now says he will not be going. On Saturday, victims of church sex abuse gathered at a Los Angeles church to call on Cardinal Roger Mahony to also drop out of the conclave. Recently disclosed internal documents have confirmed Mahony and other top clergy officials at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles deliberately hid evidence of child molestation for more than a decade.

Chris Pumpelly, Catholics United: “What I deliver today is a message of pain from thousands of Catholics. Cardinals, bishops and leaders of the Church, listen to the cries of your flock, respect the victims of abuse and cover-up, don’t run from it. Your scandal brings pain to the faithful.”

Joelle Casteix, Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests: “Cardinal Mahony believes that he has the blessing of the people to go to the conclave, and Catholics United is here to say, 'No, he does not.' Victims are here to say, 'You have conducted criminal activity. You should not be anywhere near the conclave, because we believe that whatever pope he votes for is going to continue a cycle of abuse and cover-up.'”

The protest came on the same day Mahony was deposed in a civil lawsuit brought by child molestation victims. Mahony helped transfer abusive priests out of state to avoid prosecution and stopped them from confessing to therapists who would have been forced to inform police.