Source: Jessica Kourkounis / Getty
Top Roman Catholic leaders in Pennsylvania routinely covered up child sex abuse by hundreds of priests, involving more than 1,000 victims over seven decades, according to a long-awaited grand jury report released Tuesday.
The nearly 900-page report – the product of what may be the most comprehensive examination to date of clergy sex abuse across a single state – accused church officials in six of Pennsylvania’s eight dioceses of routinely prioritizing their institution over the welfare of children.
More than 300 accused priests were singled out – though some names remained redacted amid an ongoing court fight over the accuracy of the report’s findings. Dozens of church superiors were also named as complicit, including some who have risen to prominent national postings.
“All of [the victims] were brushed aside, in every part of the state, by church leaders who preferred to protect the abusers and their institutions above all,” the report says. “Priests were raping little boys and girls and the men of God who were responsible not only did nothing: They hid it all.”
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