Pennsylvania Releases Damning Report On Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal
Pennsylvania’s attorney general released on Tuesday the long-awaited results of a damning grand jury investigation into how six Roman Catholic dioceses in the state covered up sexual abuse by 301 “predator priests” over the past 70 years.
The 884-page report is the largest, most comprehensive investigation on the church’s sex abuse scandal by a U.S. state, according to Attorney General Josh Shapiro. The grand jury identified over 1,000 victims in the six dioceses examined in the report: Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton. But the jurors suspected the true number of victims could be much higher.
Shapiro said the report, which was delayed for months while individuals named in it raised legal challenges over what portions should be redacted, showed that church leaders in these dioceses knew abuse was occurring but systematically covered it up.
“The pattern was abuse, deny, and coverup,” Shapiro said during a news conference Tuesday.
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