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Paul Shanley, notorious pedophile priest, dies at 89

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November 6, 2020 at 6:45 p.m. EST
Former Roman Catholic priest Paul Shanley walks out of Middlesex Superior Court in Cambridge, Mass. in 2002. (CHITOSE SUZUKI/ASSOCIATED PRESS)

Paul Shanley, a former Catholic street priest who played a pivotal role in the sexual abuse scandal that rocked the Archdiocese of Boston, has died, authorities said. He was 89.

Police in Ware, a town in west-central Massachusetts where Mr. Shanley had been living since his release from prison in 2017, confirmed his death but did not give a cause. WFXT-TV, Boston’s Fox News affiliate, said he died Oct. 28.