FILE PHOTO OF WISCONSIN ARCHBISHOP REMBERT WEAKLAND, 2002-05-16 (photo)

Mark Seiler (R) confronts Milwaukee's Roman Catholic archbishop Rembert Weakland and tells Weakland the Catholic church will never get another penny from him again, during a listening session at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in Brookfield, Wisconsin, May 16, 2002. Father Len VanVeaenderden (seated R) listens. Pope John Paul has accepted the resignation of Weakland, the Vatican said in a statement on Friday. Weakland, a leading liberal in the church, said on Thursday he had come to a financial settlement with a man who said the prelate had paid him almost half a million dollars to keep quiet about an attempted sexual assault. Weakland has been the leader of the Milwaukee Archdiocese since 1977. REUTERS/Allen Fredrickson AF/HK