Montgomery County prosecutors have asked the County Coroner’s office to examine the body of the late Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua to confirm that he died of natural causes, not foul play. The former Archbishop of Philadelphia died a day after a judge said he might have to testify in March at the trial of three current or former priests accused of sexually abusing children.

Coroner Walter Hofman says prosecutors want to make sure there were no intervening events that speeded up his demise.  Cardinal Bevilacqua died January 31 at a home for retired priests on the grounds of the Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary in the Wynnewood section of Lower Merion Township.