VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope John Paul II’s biographer and longtime spokesman sought Friday to defend his record on sex abuse against evidence that he didn’t grasp the scale of the scandal until very late in his papacy.

John Paul’s record and his support for the founder of the Legion of Christ religious order despite credible allegations he was a pedophile have come under fresh scrutiny in the run-up to the pontiff’s canonization Sunday, the fastest in modern times.