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Warren man killed in crash was defrocked priest
Ruling from Pope John Paul II came in 2002
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Anthony Cipolla, 73, who died of a heart attack Aug. 30 just before his car crashed into a tree along Elm Road, was the same man who made headlines in Pittsburgh for being defrocked in 2002 by Pope John Paul II.
Sources have confirmed the connection, which was reported recently by Pittsburgh media.
Cipolla, who became a priest in 1972, was charged in 1978 with molesting a 9-year-old boy who went to Cipolla’s rectory for first communion instruction, according to the Associated Press. The boy’s mother later dropped the charges.
In 1988, another male who was then 33, sued, claiming that Cipolla began molesting him when he was 12. The man said the abuse continued until he was 17, the AP reported.
That same year, Bishop Donald Wuerl of the Pittsburgh Diocese removed Cipolla from public ministry.
But Cipolla appealed to the Vatican’s highest court. In 1993, the court ordered Bishop Wuerl to return Cipolla to the ministry. But Bishop Wuerl sought reconsideration, providing the court with additional facts.
In 1995, the court reversed its earlier decision and upheld Cipolla’s ban. It became a precedent-setting case, giving bishops more leeway to remove alleged abusers, according to the Pittsburgh Post Gazette.
The diocese settled the 1988 case over Cipolla’s objections in 1993, but Cipolla was never convicted of child molestation, the AP said.
Since 1988, Cipolla had been forbidden from presenting himself as a priest in any public way, including dressing as a priest or calling himself a priest, said Ann Rodgers, communications director for the Pittsburgh Diocese.
Because the Pittsburgh Diocese received reports over the years that Cipolla was presenting himself as a priest, it sent out notices to all the dioceses in the United States saying Cipolla was not a priest in good standing, Rodgers said.
Bishop Wuerl petitioned the Vatican in May 2002, asking the pope to rule that Cipolla could no longer say Mass or receive financial support from the diocese. Pope John Paul II agreed in fall 2002, defrocking Cipolla.
Cipolla lived in the Garfield Manor Apartments on Perkinswood Boulevard Northeast in Warren for many years, said the apartment’s manager, Karen Mamula. Cipolla’s address in the crash report was in Aliquippa, Pa.
Mamula thinks Cipolla avoided telling people about his history in the Pittsburgh Diocese, but he led people to believe he was a priest, she said. He frequently wore black dress shirts typical of a priest, another neighbor noted.
“He was never a problem here, and he was here for years,” Mamula said. “It was rarely talked about,” she said of allegations that Cipolla molested boys.
Mamula said the apartment complex conducted a background check on Cipolla before he moved in, just as it does for every potential tenant, and it showed no felony convictions.
“From the time he’s been here, he’s been too feeble and ill to be a threat to anyone,” she said when asked whether his history was a concern.
“The way I look at it is if he did something, then what better place to be? It’s in God’s hands now. And if he did do it, the final judge will take care of it.”
A witness said Cipolla’s car was traveling at a high rate of speed just before the crash Aug. 30. The car continued straight at the curve in the road, hitting a tree in front of Warren Bible Methodist Church.
His body was ejected through the front passenger window and was found on the ground next to the car, in the yard of the church.