*WASHINGTON – Roman Catholic priests in Pennsylvania sexually abusedthousands of children over a 70-year period and silenced victims through“the weaponization of faith” and a systematic cover-up campaign by theirbishops, the state attorney general said on Tuesday.*

An 884-page report made public by Pennsylvania Attorney General JoshShapiro after a two-year investigation contained graphic examples ofchildren being groomed and sexually abused by clergymen. It was largelybased on documents from secret archives kept by the dioceses, includinghandwritten confessions by priests, he said.

“It was child sexual abuse, including rape, committed by grown men –priests – against children,” Shapiro told a press conference.

Representatives of the six Pennsylvania dioceses included in the reportcould not be reached for comment.

The attorney general said it was the most comprehensive report on Catholicclergy sex abuse in American history, nearly two decades after an expose ofwidespread abuse and cover-up in Boston that rocked the Roman CatholicChurch.

Several of the dioceses issued statements apologizing to victims and sayingthey were taking steps to ensure any criminal behavior was stopped. “Thegrand jury has challenged us as a Catholic diocese to put victims first andto continue to improve ways to protect children and youth,” Bishop LawrencePersico of the Erie Diocese said in a statement.

As accusers wept behind him, Shapiro described alleged abuse by priests insix of the state’s eight dioceses, including a group of Pittsburghclergymen accused of ordering an altar boy to strip naked and pose asChrist on the cross while they photographed him.

“The pattern was abuse, deny and cover up,” Shapiro said, adding thatchurch officials sought to keep abuse allegations quiet long enough so theycould no longer be prosecuted under Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations.

“Priests were raping little boys and girls,” Shapiro said. “They hid it allfor decades.”

The report cited 301 priests, some of whom have died. Only two of thepriests are still subject to prosecution.

A few of the clergymen accused in the report succeeded in having theirnames redacted, and Shapiro said he would argue at a Sept. 26 court hearingfor making all the names public.

He said the grand jury identified about a thousand victims, but believedthere may be many more.

Shapiro said that one priest had molested five sisters in one family, hesaid. The diocese settled with the family after requiring a confidentialityagreement, he said.

The attorney general said that Catholic bishops covered up child sexualabuse by priests and reassigned them repeatedly to different parishes.“They allowed priests to remain active for as long as 40 years,” he said.

Describing the “weaponization of faith” to silence victims, Shapiro citedseveral examples including one priest who allegedly told children “how Maryhad to lick Jesus clean after he was born” to groom them for oral sex. -Agencies