Damning investigation by US state of Maryland finds Church cover-up in sexual abuse involving nearly 160 Roman Catholic priests and more than 600 victims in Archdiocese of Baltimore
"Once again, the church has lied about the number of abusive priests," says David Lorenz of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"For decades, survivors reported sexual abuse perpetrated by Catholic priests and for decades the Church covered up the abuse rather than holding the abusers accountable and protecting its congregations," according to the court filing. "The Archdiocese of Baltimore was no exception." In a letter released on Thursday evening, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore apologised "to the victim-survivors who were harmed by a minister of the Church and who were harmed by those who failed to protect them, who failed to respond to them with care and compassion and who failed to hold abusers accountable for their sinful and criminal behaviour."
While the court filing noted that more than 600 victims were identified, it also said "there are almost certainly hundreds more, as the Department of Justice's Annual Crime Victimization Report has demonstrated that most incidents of sexual assault go unreported." The sexual abuse was so pervasive, the court filing said, that victims were sometimes reporting sexual abuse to priests who were perpetrators themselves.
In the court filing, Frosh argues that "publicly airing the transgressions of the Church is critical to holding people and institutions accountable and improving the way sexual abuse allegations are handled going forward."The court filing also noted that of the 43 priests that have not been publicly identified or prosecuted, 30 have died.
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