LONDON — The Vatican says it cannot rescind the papal knighthood awarded to television star Jimmy Savile, who emerged as an alleged child sex predator after his death. The Catholic Church of England said it has contacted the Vatican to ask it to posthumously revoke Savile's honor in recognition of the “deep distress” of the victims allegedly abused by Savile, a well-known BBC children's television host who died last year at the age of 84. But the Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, told The Associated Press on Saturday that the names of people who receive the knighthood don't appear in its yearbook and that the honor dies with the individual. Lombardi said Savile never would have received the honor had the truth about his behavior been known. Meanwhile Savile's family broke their silence Saturday to say their “own despair and sadness does not compare to that felt by the victims” of his abuse. “How could the person we thought we knew and loved do such a thing?” said nephew Roger Foster, in a statement released to the Yorkshire Evening Post regional newspaper. “Why would a man who raised so much money for charity, who gave so much of his own time and energy for others, risk it all doing indecent criminal acts? How could anyone live their life doing the ‘most good and most evil' at the same time?” The family said they removed the headstone from his grave — just weeks after it was erected — “so that it couldn't become a focus for malicious people”. They said their thoughts were with those who had suffered abuse. — Agencies
