Was Cardinal Bevilacqua (of Philly) Murdered?

This will really get the conspiracy minds working ... Cardinal Bevilacqua of Philly died just a few weeks ago. He was very sick and very old. He was supposed to testify in an upcoming sex-abuse trial. He died right after the court decided he was healthy enough to testify .. and right before he had to testify. Coincidence or murder? hmmmmm ....

National Catholic Register

Cardinal Bevilacqua, as you might remember, died on Jan. 31 at the age of 88 at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. He’d suffered from cancer and dementia. Reportedly, the investigation is at the request of Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Ferman.

The District Attorney’s office did not have a comment when I called them this morning. But the likely reason for the investigation is the timing of the Cardinal’s death that came a day after Common Pleas Court Judge Teresa Sarmina ruled that Bevilacqua could be compelled to take the witness stand in the child sex abuse trial of three priests who had served in the archdiocese.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the coroner Walter Hofman conducted a postmortem examination of Bevilacqua’s body the day after he died and after it had already been embalmed. Hofman told the Inquirer that county prosecutors “wanted to make sure there were no intervening events that could have speeded up [Bevilacqua’s] demise.”

Philly.Com Coroner probing Bevilacqua's cause of death

In November, Common Pleas Court Judge M. Teresa Sarmina declared the cardinal competent and let prosecutors from the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office question him during a closed hearing at the seminary. The assistant district attorneys cited Bevilacqua's frail health as one reason they wanted to preserve his testimony on videotape before the trial.

Acting on a request from defense attorneys, Sarmina last week reiterated her ruling that Bevilacqua was competent and could be called to the witness stand. He died the next night.

He had dementia so I don't know how good his testifying would have been. It all would have been questionable and probably easily thrown out of court by a good lawyer. But he had given testimony via video tape when his health wasn't as bad. Either way .. he died immediately after the court said he would have to testify. Now .. he was old and very sick so it could have been natural, and the thought of having to testify could have been the stress that pushed him over the edge. OR ... someone could have given him a nudge over that edge. The examination of the body happened 'after it had been embalmed'. I'm not up on all the rules of forensics .. but that just doesn't sound right to me. I'm thinking evidence of poison or whatever would be severely hampered.

Natural death or murder? Wondering ....

It funny to see this here today, as two times in the past two days I have had the same exact conversation with people. Being from the Philly area, it has been all over the news since his death, and this idea is on the minds of many...

(probably yours too, guessing a flyersfan might be from Philly)

On Philly.comtody

Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman asked the county coroner to examine the body of Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua two weeks ago because the timing of the 88-year-old prelate's death struck her as "peculiar," she said Friday.

Once we get a real autopsy or examination there should be some better answer, but maybe not because after all this is the Catholic Church.Personally I think that someone played with his medication and this is the result, same as I think with John Paul I.

At the end of everything though, no matter what the coroner finds, he still will not be able to testify.
RIP Cardinal Bevilacqua.

Wow. DA's don't pursue autopsies on a whim. There must be something else behind the scenes that makes them suspect unnatural influence. It's like straight out of a Law and Order episode. Crazy!

Originally posted by youdidntseeme
guessing a flyersfan might be from Philly

The general area ... yep.

Personally I think that someone played with his medication and this is the result,
same as I think with John Paul I.

I think it's pretty much a given fact that John Paul I was poisoned.
Not too hard to figure out by who ... the Cardinals in the Vatican Bank 'irregularities'.

Originally posted by kosmicjack
Wow. DA's don't pursue autopsies on a whim.

And they performed it AFTER the embalming.
Like I said, I'm not a foresic scientist but that just doesn't sound right.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Yeah ive always wondered about the death of Pope Paul I. The fact he was creamted, which goes against vatican policy, says a lot to me.

As far as the Op article goes, im jsut glad the PA exercises common sense and is at least having his cause of eath chcked and confirmed. He was in ill health for some time, so its entirely possible this is just a fluke. Better to be sure and check to rule out foul play than to just accept it and have a potential murder walk free.

Cremation is allowed in the Catholic faith. I don't know if it always was, but it is now for sure. The problem I have with the cremation of Cardinal Bevilacqua is that means there can be no follow up on the autopsy'... the autopsy that was performed after embalming. (never heard of that before ... sounds really odd to me).