Archbishop John Nienstedt told priests and staff about recent allegations against him involving events alleged to have occurred a decade ago before he began serving in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, calling them “absolutely and entirely false.”
The claims do not involve minors, and they do not implicate any kind of illegal or criminal behavior.
The new allegations were made public in an article posted on Commonweal magazine’s website. The article notes an internal investigation Archbishop Nienstedt ordered after he became aware of the allegations.
“The archdiocese investigates all allegations of clergy misconduct,” Archbishop Nienstedt said in a statement sent to all priests, deacons and archdiocesan staff, and posted at archspm.org. “It would be unfair to ignore these allegations simply because I know them to be false. Since I would instruct the archdiocese to investigate similar allegations made against any priest, I had ordered the archdiocese to independently investigate the allegations made against me.”
In overseeing the investigation, which is ongoing, Bishop Lee Piché hired an outside firm unaffiliated with the archdiocese to conduct it.
The archdiocese also notified the apostolic nuncio, who oversees all bishops in the U.S., of the allegations, and will inform him of the results of the investigation once it’s completed.
