A scathing Pennsylvania grand jury report released Tuesday reveals decades of child abuse allegations against more than 300 accused “predator priests” as well as claims that Roman Catholic Church leaders covered up the crimes and obstructed justice in order to avoid scandal.
More than 1,000 child victims were identifiable from the church's own records, according to the report.
"We believe that the real number — of children whose records were lost, or who were afraid ever to come forward — is in the thousands," the grand jury said.
"Today, Pennsylvanians can learn the extent of sexual abuse in the dioceses and for the first time we can begin to understand the systematic cover up by church leaders that followed," Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said at a news conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday, the deadline set by the state’s Supreme Court for the release of the 884-page report with some of the names of the accused clergy temporarily redacted.
"Let me be very clear — my office is not satisfied with the release of a redacted report," he added. "Every redaction represents an incomplete story of abuse that deserves to be told."
The report said that abuse complaints were kept in the church's so-called secret archive and church officials worked to hide reports of the abuse, failed to discipline priests or report the allegations to law enforcement.
"Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all," the report said.
Shapiro said the report showed a “systematic cover up by senior church officials in Pennsylvania and at the Vatican.”
"The abuse scarred every diocese, the cover-up was sophisticated," he said.
The grand jury said in the report that it had uncovered a ring of predatory priests that manufactured child pornography on diocese property and used whips, violence and sadism on their victims.
diocese property and used whips, violence and sadism on their victims.
a grand jury finds
U.S. grand jury report reveals decades of child abuse allegations against 300+ accused “predator priests," and Catholic Church leader cover-ups, with 1,000+ child victims identifiable from the church's own records. https://t.co/XOutBkOCdk
— Breaking News (@BreakingNews) August 14, 2018
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