Cardinal Bernard Law, the disgraced former archbishop of Boston, has died at the age of 86, an official with the Catholic Church said.

Law, who had recently been hospitalised in Rome, was the Boston archbishop in 2002 when court documents revealed he had failed to stop priests who molested children.

Law and other church leaders had moved guilty clergy from parish to parish in Massachusetts without alerting parents or police.

He resigned amid a public uproar over his actions.

Vatican officials later appointed him to run a major basilica in Rome - a move which was condemned by critics as a reward for the cardinal.