VATICAN – The Vatican said on Thursday Pope Francis was on the side ofvictims of more than 300 “predator” priests in the United States accused ofabusing over 1,000 children across seven decades.
“Victims should know that the pope is on their side. Those who havesuffered are his priority, and the Church wants to listen to them to rootout this tragic horror that destroys the lives of the innocent,” theVatican said in a statement after a devastating US grand jury report waspublished on Tuesday that decried a systematic cover-up by the CatholicChurch.
“There are two words that can express the feelings faced with thesehorrible crimes: shame and sorrow,” it said.
The Vatican statement added that the church needed to learn “hard lessonsfrom its past, and there should be accountability for both abusers andthose who permitted abuse to occur”.
The report is thought to be the most comprehensive to date into abuse inthe US church, since The Boston Globe first exposed paedophile priests inMassachusetts in 2002.
But while Tuesday’s report led to charges against two priests, one of whomhas pleaded guilty, the majority of those responsible are dead and the vastmajority of crimes happened too long ago to prosecute, officials said.
The two-year investigation by a grand jury into all but two Pennsylvaniadioceses turned up dozens of witnesses and half a million pages of churchrecords containing “credible allegations against over three hundredpredator priests.”
More than 1,000 child victims were identifiable, but the “real number” was”in the thousands,” the grand jury estimated.
– Hidden for decades –
Victims were often traumatised for life, driven to drugs, alcohol andsuicide, the grand jury said. The only recourse was to recommend changes tothe law and expose what had happened to make sure such widespread abuse wasnever repeated.
So far only two new priests are being charged with crimes that fall withinthe statute of limitations.
The grand jury called for changes in the law that would scrap the statuteof limitations for child sex abuse, give victims more time to file civillawsuits and tighten legislation compelling people to report abuse theyfind out about.
“Despite some institutional reform, individual leaders of the church havelargely escaped public accountability,” the report said.
“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who wereresponsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades.”
Church elders were instead promoted and predator priests allowed to remainin ministries for 10, 20, even 40 years after leaders learned of theircrimes as the list of victims got longer and longer, Pennsylvania’sAttorney General Josh Shapiro said.
Between 5,700 and 10,000 Catholic priests have been accused of sexual abusein the United States, but only a few hundred have been tried, convicted,and sentenced for their crimes, according to the watchdog BishopAccountability.
Since the abuse crisis became public in the 2000s, the US church has spentmore than $3 billion in settlements, according to Bishop Accountability.
One estimate suggests up there were 100,000 US victims. – APP/AFP