Catholic clergy sexual abuse of more than 600 children in Maryland documented

The Prosecutor’s Office Maryland (USA) published this Wednesday a 456-page report documenting the sexual abuse committed by 156 members of the Catholic clergy against more than 600 child victims in the Archdiocese of Baltimore during the last 8 decades.

“From the 1940s to 2002, more than 100 priests and other archdiocese employees committed horrific and repeated abuses against the most vulnerable children in their communities.”, the report states.

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“Time and again members of the church hierarchy resolutely refused to acknowledge allegations of child sexual abuse for as long as possible.”, he added.

The document is published with redactions that cover the names and references that could identify almost a hundred people. The list of alleged abusers includes dozens of priests, friars and at least two nuns.

“The overwhelming extent of the abuse itself reveals the culpability of the Church hierarchy”, the report states “The sheer number of abusers and victims, the depravity of abusers’ behavior, and the frequency with which abusers were given the opportunity to continue to harass children are staggering.“, Add.

The state attorney general, Anthony BrownHe said that in 2018 his office launched a grand jury investigation into the archdiocese, which has some 518,000 worshipers in 145 parishes.

“The investigation examined allegations of crimes involving the sexual abuse of minors by members of the clergy, seminarians, deacons and other members of the archdiocese.”, added the prosecutor.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimorein the west of MarylandIt has some 550 priests, 160 deacons, 55 friars and 803 nuns, and administers 5 hospitals, some thirty residences for the elderly, 20 diocesan, parochial and private schools, and four universities.

Likewise, the investigation was extended to the “efforts of the leaders of the Catholic Church to conceal and cover up that sexual abuse, with hundreds of thousands of documents dating back to the 1940s and filed by the archdioceseBrown said.

Before a judge authorized the publication of the Prosecutor’s report on Tuesday, Archbishop william lori released a message urging Catholics to pray for abuse survivors.

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“More than anything, at this moment, I pause to acknowledge and validate that the vile and horrifying abuse subject to the Prosecution’s investigation represents serious treason, and has had devastating consequences for the surviving victims.Lori stated.

SNAPthe largest network of survivors of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy, said in a statement that the report from the Maryland Attorney’s Office “contains more names of abusers than Church officials have revealed”.

The group demanded that Archbishop Lori explain “why your list is deficient and to answer what Church officials have hidden and why”.

Source: Elcomercio

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I am Jack Morton and I work in 24 News Recorder. I mostly cover world news and I have also authored 24 news recorder. I find this work highly interesting and it allows me to keep up with current events happening around the world.