US church releases priest abuse files

LOS ANGELES (CA)
Aljazeera

The Catholic Church in Los Angeles has released thousands of pages of documents related to sex abuse by priests, acknowledging a cover-up as “a sad and shameful chapter” of the church.

The Los Angeles archdiocese also announced on Thursday that it has removed top ranking church leaders who have been linked to efforts to conceal the abuses, after years of legal battles.

“The 2013 public release of the files of clergy who were subject of the 2007 global settlement concludes a sad and shameful chapter in the history of our local church,” the archdiocese said in a statement attributed to Archbishop Jose Gomez.

That 2007 settlement with the victims of the abuse cost the church as much as $660m. The Catholic Church in Los Angeles is the largest in the United States.

Gomez also said that his predecessor, Cardinal Roger Mahony, has been barred from any future administrative or public duties in the church.

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