Best-selling author, outspoken Father Andrew Greeley dies

CHICAGO (AP) — The Rev. Andrew Greeley, an outspoken Roman Catholic priest, best-selling author and longtime Chicago newspaper columnist who even criticized the hierarchy of his own church over the child sex abuse scandal, has died. He was 85.

His longtime publicist, June Rosner, said Father Greeley died Wednesday night at his Chicago home.

Father Greeley was the author of more than 50 best-selling novels, many of them international mystery thrillers, and dozens of nonfiction works. His writing was translated into 12 languages and his career spanned five decades.

The Chicago-area native wrote a weekly column that appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times and other newspapers on the relationship between religion and politics. He was a contributor to the New York Times, National Catholic Reporter and other publications.

Father Greeley had suffered a traumatic brain injury in November 2008, after he snagged his jacket on the door of a taxicab and fell. He spent several months in rehabilitation and underwent intensive therapy, though he never regained full cognitive function.