The Rev. Philip A. Magaldi, a former Rhode Island pastor who was accused of sexually abusing children, died Tuesday night.

Bishop Kevin Vann, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, with the support of Bishop Thomas J. Tobin of the Diocese of Providence, had made an appeal to the Vatican to dismiss Father Magaldi, 72, from the priesthood “as a result of credible allegations relative to sexual misconduct,” according to a statement from the Diocese of Providence yesterday.

The request is pending in Rome.

In February, Catholic officials in Texas said that Father Magaldi was HIV positive. He was removed from active priesthood in 1999 after sexual misconduct allegations were raised in Rhode Island and in Fort Worth.

“Magaldi acknowledged to me that he is HIV positive. We do not know when Magaldi was diagnosed as HIV positive,” Fort Worth Vicar General Michael F. Olson said in February.

Father Magaldi had been been living in a retirement center in Texas.

In Rhode Island, he was accused of lying as part of the 1980s attempted murder case involving socialite Claus von Bulow, and the priest served time after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $120,000 from his North Providence parish, St. Anthony’s.

In 1997 and 1998, he was accused by men in Massachusetts and Texas of having molested them as a priest, in Rhode Island in the 1970s and in Fort Worth in 1995.

The Diocese of Providence said yesterday it was informed by the Diocese of Fort Worth that Father Magaldi had died. The priest was last assigned to the Texas diocese.

Father Magaldi will be cremated, then buried in Florida, according to his wishes.

— projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with Journal archival reports