Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania sexually abused thousands of children over a 70-year period and silenced victims through “the weaponization of faith” and a systematic cover-up campaign by their bishops, the state attorney general said on Tuesday.
An 884-page report made public by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro after a two-year investigation contained graphic examples of children being groomed and sexually abused by clergymen.
It was largely based on documents from secret archives kept by the dioceses, including handwritten confessions by priests, Shapiro told a news conference.
Photo: AP
“It was child sexual abuse, including rape, committed by grown men — priests — against children,” Shapiro added.
Representatives of the six Pennsylvania dioceses in the report could not be reached for comment.
It was the most comprehensive report on Catholic clergy sex abuse in US history, nearly two decades after the discovery of widespread abuse and cover-up in Boston that rocked the Roman Catholic Church, Shapiro said.
Photo: AP
Several of the dioceses issued statements apologizing to victims and saying that they were taking steps to ensure any criminal behavior was stopped.
“The grand jury has challenged us as a Catholic diocese to put victims first and to continue to improve ways to protect children and youth,” Bishop Lawrence Persico of the Erie Diocese said in a statement.
As accusers wept behind him, Shapiro described alleged abuse by priests in six of the state’s eight dioceses, including a group of Pittsburgh clergymen accused of ordering an altar boy to strip naked and pose as Christ on the cross while they photographed him.
“The pattern was abuse, deny and cover up,” Shapiro said, adding that church officials sought to keep abuse allegations quiet long enough so that they could no longer be prosecuted under Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations.
“Priests were raping little boys and girls,” Shapiro said. “They hid it all for decades.”
The report cited 301 priests, some of whom have died. Only two of the priests are still subject to prosecution.
One priest had molested five sisters, Shapiro said, adding that the diocese settled after the family signed a confidentiality agreement.
Catholic bishops covered up child sexual abuse committed by priests, but simply reassigned them to different parishes, he said.
“They let priests to remain active for as long as 40 years,” he said.
Describing the “weaponization of faith” to silence victims, Shapiro cited several examples including one priest who allegedly told children “how Mary had to lick Jesus clean after he was born” to groom the girls for oral sex.
“Children were taught that this abuse was not only normal, but that it was holy,” Shapiro said.
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