ROME — Three years ago, Cardinal Bernard Law was at the center of the church sexual-abuse scandal in Boston. Today, he'll take center stage in the Catholic world.

Law will celebrate today's Mass of mourning for the late pope at the renowned St. Peter's Basilica — one of nine eulogies at the Vatican. Being selected is an honor bestowed only on the most influential members of the church's hierarchy.

But to victims of sexual abuse by priests — some of the accused worked under Cardinal Law when he ran the Archdiocese of Boston before he resigned over the scandal in 2002 — it's a sign that the church has not come to grips with a very dark period in its recent history.

"It's beyond a slap in the face, it's rubbing salt into some very raw wounds," said David Clohessy, national director of a group representing about 5,000 church-sexual abuse victims.

"He's the symbol of the scandal. This is a clear sign that the church is not taking its history of sexual abuse seriously, and that it is not at all in touch with the pain in the American church."

Law, 73, will lead one of the special Masses for John Paul II in what is called the novemdiales — the nine-day mourning period. He was picked because of his position as archpriest of the St. Mary Major Basilica. Law was appointed to that post when he was recalled to Rome after his resignation as leader of the Boston Diocese.

To protest Law's participation in the Mass, a small group of Law's critics has said it intends to demonstrate outside of St. Peter's today.

The Rev. Keith Pecklers, a U.S. priest who teaches at Gregorian University in Rome, defends Law.

"The Vatican sees Cardinal Law as a cardinal in good standing, and moreover, he is a cardinal elector in the conclave and has every right to preach," Pecklers said.

But a Mass in the novemdiales is not simply preaching. Several, and perhaps all, of the U.S. cardinals in Rome now waiting for the start next Monday of the Conclave, the closed-door session where cardinals gather to chose a new pope, will lead Masses in churches around Rome.

Traditionally, those special Masses are seen as giving hints about the direction the cardinals hope the pope they are about to elect will lead. Cardinal Law will be the only American to lead one of these Masses.

"Law wasn't a specific choice, he'll lead the Mass because it is a privilege given to the cardinal who holds his job," said Vatican expert and National Catholic Reporter journalist John L. Allen Jr.

"On the other hand, especially during the current period, when the cardinals have imposed a media blackout so there won't be any other public voices, it is a very important Mass."

Allen said the status of Cardinal Law in the church can be best seen in the fact that he holds numerous Vatican congregation and council positions, about as many as anyone in the church, and a sure sign of his influence.

"Nobody here defended his handling of the sex-abuse scandal," Allen noted.

Law resigned in 2002 because he had failed to remove, and sometimes merely reassigned, priests accused of sexually abusing children. Several months after returning to Rome he was given the role as archpriest of the basilica that is called the "most significant monument to Mary in Christendom."

Clohessy, who lives in St. Louis, said that while he understands the importance of tradition in the church, he thinks it would have been wise to change it.

"Symbolically at least, this puts Law forth as the most prominent American in the church," he said. "That Law is shameless enough to accept the honor is not surprising to us. But we are very disappointed that other leaders in the American church, or the church worldwide, didn't step forward in protest."