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Cardinal Roger Mahony is clearly excited about his trip to Rome.

On the eve of the cardinal's sworn deposition in a lawsuit over a priest accused of molesting 26 boys in his archdiocese in 1987, Mahony sent this, his 13th tweet, to his 979 followers:

"@CardinalMahony Just a few short hours before my departure for Rome. Will be tweeting often from Rome, except during the actual Conclave itself. Prayers!"

The cardinal doesn't mention that before he boards the plane he'll have to give a four hour deposition in the case of Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera, who fled to Mexico shortly after a top Mahony aid warned the cardinal the pedophile priest was likely to be arrested.

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Mahony's successor Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez publicly rebuked the cardinal for his mishandling of this and dozens of other cases.

One of Mahony's fellow cardinals told an Italian newspaper "it's disturbing" that Mahony should help choose the new pope. Cardinal Velasio de Paolis politely suggested the LA cardinal recuse himself.

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But Cardinal Mahony doesn't get into all that in his tweet. Maybe 140 characters isn't enough room.

@CardinalMahony/Twitter