A "systematic cover-up" in the Pennsylvania Catholic Church.
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VOX
- More than 300 priests from Pennsylvania's Roman Catholic Church have been accused of sexual abuse over a 70-year period, according to a new report from a grand jury. The report also identified more than 1,000 victims (and implied there are many more) who were silenced in a cover-up scheme by various Pennsylvania bishops and church leaders. [AP / Mark Scolforo]
- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court released the report, which discussed hundreds of church leaders who "largely escaped public accountability" and the Vatican officials who wanted to "avoid scandal," on Tuesdayfollowing an 18-month-long investigation into eight Catholic dioceses. [BBC]
- The overarching theme of the report was the "systematic coverup by senior church officials in Pennsylvania and at the Vatican," as evidenced by the church's own records, according to Pennsylvania state Attorney General Josh Shapiro. [WPXI]
- The president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the chair of the bishops' Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People said the Catholic Church is "shamed by and sorry for the sins and omissions" by its bishops and priests. [CNN / Daniel Burke and Susannah Cullinane]
- The grand jury report is a result of the most extensive American investigation into abuse in the Catholic Church to date. [Washington Post / Michelle Boorstein]
- Sex abuse survivors have called on the government to look into the US Catholic Church's history of abuse on a national level. But no federal investigation has been launched. [NYT / Laurie Goodstein]
- The discovery follows a particularly rough year for the Vatican: Cardinal Theodore McCarrick — DC's former archbishop — resigned following accusations of sex abuse, dozens of Chilean church leaders resigned after an abuse cover-up went public, and an Australian archbishop was convicted of child sex abuse. [Vox / Emily Stewart]