ANTIQUES SHOPS

The jury acquitted Monsignor William Lynn on two other counts - conspiracy and another charge of child endangerment -after 10 weeks of testimony in a trial that raised questions about personal responsibility and institutional constraints within the church hierarchy.

Removing his black clerical jacket but leaving on his collar, a stoic Lynn, 61, was led out of the courtroom and into custody by deputy sheriffs as his family members wept.

"Every juror there wanted to do justice. ... We wanted to do what was right," jury foreman Isa Logan, 35, a bank customer service representative, told reporters outside the courtroom.

Sentencing for Lynn, who faces up to seven years in prison, was set for August 13 by Judge M. Teresa Sarmina.

"This is a monumental victory for the named and un-named victims," said Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams. "This was about evil men who did evil things to children."

While the district attorney's office argued that Lynn should immediately be jailed, the judge said she would consider house arrest if the defense asked for it.

The jury deliberated 13 days before reaching the mixed decision in the trial of Lynn, who, prosecutors charged, covered up child sex abuse allegations, often by transferring priests to unsuspecting parishes.

Lawyers for Lynn said they planned to appeal the case.

"He's really upset," said one of his attorneys, Jeff Lindy. "He's upset, he's crushed. He didn't want anything other than to help kids, he's crushed about this."

STRONG MESSAGE

Barbara Dorris, outreach director for Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said the verdict put the Church on notice that it can no longer "shield and protect" abusive priests and expect to get away with it.

"This is a strong message, and we're grateful for that message that kids' safety has to come first," she said.

The case against Lynn was part of a broader indictment against clergy in the Philadelphia Archdiocese. One of the priests, Reverend James Brennan, was tried along with Lynn and faced charges of attempted rape and child endangerment. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on the counts against Brennan.

A third priest who was scheduled to go on trial with Lynn and Brennan pleaded guilty at the last minute to sexually assaulting a 10-year-old altar boy at church in 1999.

The trial re-focused attention on a sweeping sex abuse scandal that has rocked the Church, costing billions in settlements, driving prominent U.S. dioceses into bankruptcy and testing the faith of Roman Catholics.

"A verdict like this has to be regarded as very important," said Martin Guggenheim, a professor at New York University School of Law who specializes in children's rights and family law. "From now on, the Lynns of this world are going to act in the knowledge that there is a real risk of being arrested if they don't do enough."

Lynn's job was supervising 800 priests, including investigating sex abuse claims from 1992 to 2004, in the nation's sixth largest archdiocese, with 1.5 million members.

Instead of looking out for children, prosecutors said, he chose to protect the Church from scandal and potential loss of financial support.

The defense said Lynn tried to address cases of pedophile priests, compiling a list in 1994 of 35 accused predators and writing memos to suggest treatment and suspensions.

He was hampered because he could merely make recommendations to his boss, Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua, the defense said. Bevilacqua died in January at age 88.

LYNN'S TESTIMONY KEY TO VERDICT

According to Lynn's testimony, which the jury foreman said was key to reaching a verdict, the cardinal said any mention of an accused priest's move from a parish should cite health reasons, never the accusations. Testimony also showed Bevilacqua ordered the list of accused priests be destroyed, although a lone copy was found in an archdiocese safe.

Prosecutors used that list to show the Church was aware of predatory priests and covered up their existence, while the defense used the list to argue it showed Lynn attempting to stop the problem.

"This has been a difficult time for all Catholics, especially victims of sexual abuse," the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said in a statement. "The lessons of the last year have made our Church a more vigilant guardian of our people's safety."

The U.S. scandal erupted in 1992 with a series of sex abuse cases uncovered in the Archdiocese of Boston that helped encourage other victims of abuse to come forward.

Some 3,000 civil lawsuits alleging abuse were filed in the United States between 1984 and 2009. An unknown number of complaints - believed to be vastly greater - were settled privately, often with confidentiality agreements, experts say.

The Church has paid out some $2 billion in settlements to victims, bankrupting a handful of dioceses.

Hefty multi-million dollar sums were paid out by Catholic archdioceses in Boston, Chicago and Los Angeles. The Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware, declared bankruptcy in 2009, and the Diocese of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, did so in 2011.

At issue in Lynn's trial was whether he could or should have taken action outside the Church's hierarchy and whether strict obedience to its elders was defensible.

Logan, the jury foreman and a U.S. Army veteran, said Lynn had a personal responsibility to report the abuse to the proper authorities.

"I am a human being before I'm a soldier, so if he's telling me something to do that is incorrect, then I'll be court-martialed before I do something like that," he said.

The decision comes as another jury in Pennsylvania is deciding an even higher-profile child sex abuse case, against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky.

(Reporting by Dave Warner; Writing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Todd Eastham and Paul Simao)

Amine El Khalifi, 29, was arrested in a sting operation in a parking garage near the Capitol on February 17 with an automatic weapon and wearing a vest he believed was full of explosives supplied by al Qaeda, according to U.S. officials.

He intended to shoot bystanders before detonating a bomb inside the building, which is home to Congress, they said. His gun and the explosives, however, had been rendered inoperable by U.S. agents, according to the FBI.

Khalifi, who was living in Alexandria, Virginia at the time of his arrest, pleaded guilty to one criminal count of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against property owned and used by the United States.

"I plead guilty," he said, dressed in a gray prison jumpsuit and standing before Judge James Cacheris of the U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Virginia. Khalifi appeared relaxed as he chatted with his lawyers in court.

He will be sentenced on September 14.

FBI: WE WOULD DO IT AGAIN

Prosecutors maintain that Khalifi initiated the planned attack.

"It was Mr. Khalifi at every step who was identifying the targets and the means," said Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. "Amine El Khalifi sought to bring down the U.S. Capitol and kill as many people as possible."

The FBI said it began tracking Khalifi after a confidential source told them that Khalifi had met with a group in Virginia in January 2011 where one individual produced what appeared to be an AK-47 rifle, two revolvers and ammunition and said the "war on terrorism" was a "war on Muslims" and that the group needed to be ready for war, according to court documents.

Khalifi agreed with the statements, the source said, according to prosecutors. They did not identify who else was present at the meeting.

An undercover law enforcement agent posing as a member of an armed extremist group met with Khalifi in December 2011 and they discussed various plots to attack U.S. military offices, an Army general, a Jewish synagogue and a Washington restaurant, according to an FBI affidavit filed in court.

In early 2012, Khalifi switched his target to the Capitol and said he wanted to execute a suicide bombing from inside the building. He chose a specific time for the attack, planned how to enter the building and discussed how he would shoot a police officer stationed at the entrance, court documents said.

An undercover operative provided Khalifi with the gun and vest and drove with him to the Capitol on the day of the planned attack. Khalifi was arrested while walking alone toward the building.

Khalifi's case was the latest in a string of undercover operations by the Obama administration. The FBI said it would continue to carry out such operations.

"Have we done it before? Will we do it again? The answer is yes," FBI special agent Bryan Paarmann told reporters after the court hearing.

(Reporting by Lily Kuo; Editing by Paul Simao)