of view and an agenda...There were things we didn't publish that Ralph wrote that we didn't think were truthful. He could never prove them." Cipriano sued Rosenthal and The Inquirer for libel and the case was later settled out of court. In a 2001 interview with the Editor & Publisher, Cardinal Bevilacqua credited Tierney with stopping the story and noted that The Philadelphia Inquirer's stories about the Archdiocese have been more positive. In 1998 Tierney was named a Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope John Paul II. Later ventures Tierney Group and Tierney & Partners, later renamed Tierney Communications, was bought by True North Communications in 1998, which is now part of Interpublic Group. Tierney continued as CEO until April 2002, when he stepped down. He continued with Tierney Communications as chairman until December 1, 2003, when Tierney resigned and announced he was founding a new public relations firm, T2 Group. T2 Group lasted until June 2004 when Tierney announced it was being bought by credit card company Advanta and that Tierney and most of T2's management would be hired by Advanta. Tierney became vice chairman of Advanta, but in February 2005, Advanta announced Tierney was no longer serving as vice-chairman. The company gave no explanation as to why Tierney lost the position and Tierney's employment with the company ended the next month. Philadelphia Media Holdings In 2005, Tierney attempted to buy magazines Inc. and Fast Company from Gruner + Jahr, but failed. Tierney tried again to enter the media industry in March 2006 when he assembled a group of mostly former clients or people that are with him on the board of the Episcopal Academy to buy Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. He and other local businessman formed Philadelphia Media Holdings LLC and bought The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and philly.com for US$515 million from The McClatchy Company which was selling off newspapers in unionized and low-growth markets after buying Philadelphia Newspapers Inc.'s parent company Knight Ridder. The buyout was met with skepticism by many at The Inquirer, especially by reporters who had been contacted in the past by Tierney on behalf of his clients. Tierney allayed fears with the members of Philadelphia Media Holdings signing a pledge not to interfere with the paper's editorial independence. Tierney said he would combat The Inquirer's decreasing revenue by spending millions on advertisements and promotions and not by