Maryland District Attorney’s Office (United States of America.) published a 456-page report documenting it today. sexual abuse More than 600 child victims were committed by 156 members of the Catholic clergy in the Archdiocese of Baltimore the last eight years.
“From 1940s to 2002 more than a hundred priests and other employees of the Archdiocese The report states that “they committed appalling and repeated abuses against the most vulnerable children in their community.”
“Members of the church hierarchy have repeatedly denied allegations of child sexual abuse for as long as possible,” the statement said.
The document was published with redactions covering names and references that could identify nearly a hundred people. List Dozens of priests, monks and at least two nuns are among those alleged to have abused.
“The overwhelming extent of abuse reveals the guilt of the Church hierarchy. The high number of abusers and victims, the immoral behavior of abusers, and the frequency with which abusers are given the opportunity to continue the abuse,” the report said. kids are amazing”.
State Attorney General Anthony Brown said in 2018 his office launched a grand jury investigation into the Archdiocese. which has some 518,000 loyalists in 145 neighborhoods.
“The investigation examined complaints of sexual abuse of minors committed by clergy, theologians, deacons and other members of the Archdiocese,” the prosecutor said.
The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore in western Maryland has approximately 550 priests, 160 deacons, 55 monks, and 803 nuns, and manages five hospitals, about thirty residences for the elderly, 20 dioceses, parochial and private schools, and four universities.
Brown said the investigation also included “the efforts of the Catholic Church leadership to conceal and cover up this sexual abuse with hundreds of thousands of documents from the 1940s prepared by the Archdiocese.”
Before a judge who, on Tuesday, authorized the publication of the prosecutor’s report, Archbishop William Lori issued a message urging Catholics to pray for survivors of abuse.
“More than anything else, I now stand to acknowledge and confirm that the vile and horrific abuse that was the subject of the Prosecutor’s investigation constituted a serious betrayal and had devastating consequences for the surviving victims,” Lori said.
SNAP, the largest network for survivors of sexual harassment by Catholic clergyHe said in a statement that the Maryland District Attorney’s report “contains more abusers’ names than church officials have disclosed.”
The group requested Archbishop Lori “to answer why his list is incomplete and why the Church authorities are hiding it”.