Highlights & lowlights of Rigali’s tenure

2003: Pope John Paul II appoints Rigali as Archbishop of Philadelphia, taking over for Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua.

2004: Just eight months into the job, Rigali is asked to testify before a grand jury created by then-District Attorney Lynne Abraham that looked into how the Archdiocese responded to sex-abuse allegations of youngsters by Roman Catholic clergy. The investigation lasted two years, at which time the Archdiocese considered pleading guilty to endangering the welfare of children in connection to the probe.

2004: Rigali is named as a defendant in the first clerical sexual-abuse case as Archbishop of Philadelphia in a lawsuit filed byArthur Baselice, of Mantua, Gloucester County. The suit alleged that Baselice was abused for two years and plied with cocaine, marijuana and alcohol beginning in 1994 by a former principal at Archbishop Ryan High School in Northeast Philadelphia.

2009: Rigali, along with several other Roman Catholic prelates, signs an ecumenical statement known as the Manhattan Declaration, which objects to same-sex marriage and infidelity and defends religious liberty.

February 2011: Rigali calls for donations to pay for the burial of the remains of aborted babies killed at the hands of West Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell.

March 2011: Following release of a grand-jury report finding that 37 active priests are suspected of widespread child molestation, Rigali cracks down on wayward priests, suspending 21 of whom are implicated in alleged sexual abuse of minors. The suspensions are considered the most sweeping in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church's sexual-abuse scandal.