OREGON/CHICAGO (IL)
KGW

by Associated Press
Posted on January 22, 2014

CHICAGO (AP) — Top leaders at the Archdiocese of Chicago helped hide the sexual abuse of children as they struggled to contain a growing crisis, according to thousands of pages of internal documents that also raise new questions about how Cardinal Francis George handled the allegations even after the church adopted reforms.

The documents, released through settlements between attorneys for the archdiocese and victims, describe how priests for decades were moved from parish to parish while the archdiocese hid the clerics’ histories from the public, often with the approval of the late Cardinals John Cody and Joseph Bernardin.

George had a relatively short tenure in Portland, appointed archbishop in 1996. He was noted for taking on Lane County prosecutors who wanted to use a jail confession as evidence, winning in federal court at the appellate level.

Although…