Case Against Cardinal Egan Ruled Baseless

NEW YORK —  A sexual misconduct allegation against Cardinal Edward Egan dating to 1969 is unfounded, prosecutors in Illinois said Friday.

The Cook County state’s attorney’s office investigated “and found no credible evidence on which to proceed,” spokesman John Gorman said.

In August, Illinois authorities notified the New York Archdiocese that a man said Egan sexually abused him when he was a boy in Chicago in 1969, archdiocese spokesman Joseph Zwilling said. The same person accused more than 20 “high-profile persons,” including national political figures, Zwilling said.

Neither the Chicago Archdiocese nor the Cook County state’s attorney would comment on whether the person had made other allegations or if other investigations were underway.

Zwilling said Egan cooperated with the investigation, but denied the charges and had never heard of the person who made them.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago notified Egan on Friday that his archdiocese’s review board also found no basis for the accusation.

Egan, ordained in 1957, worked in Chicago from 1958 to 1960 and from 1964 to 1971.

As a bishop in Bridgeport, critics say, Egan failed to notify authorities about abuse allegations involving diocesan priests and allowed several priests facing such allegations to continue working.