UNITED STATES
Vatican Insider

A report published by the order of Capuchin Friars Minor reveals that its leaders covered up cases of child abuse committed by members of the community

VATICAN INSIDER STAFF
ROME

The leaders of the Capuchin Order in the U.S. concealed acts of sex abuse committed by members of their order, putting the protection of accused abusers above that of their victims, concludes an audit published by the religious order today. The audit raises questions about the handling of the paedohilia plague in the Catholic Church in the U.S., by communities of monastic orders not directly supervised by bishops.

The report – the first of its kind – claims that the Capuchin Order’s response to the abuse committed by twenty or so of their fellow friars was partly down to a “systemic clericalism” which put friars’ needs above those of the victims. The report also…