MINNESOTA
BBC News
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis is facing criminal charges after US officials said church leaders ignored reports that a priest was molesting children.
Archdiocese is charged as a corporation with failing to protect children, but no individuals were charged.
Officials alleged that the archdiocese “turned a blind eye” to complaints about priest Curtis Wehmeyer for years.
Wehmeyer, now defrocked, was convicted of molesting two brothers in 2013.
`It is not only Curtis Wehmeyer who is criminally responsible for the harm caused, but it is the archdiocese as well,” said Ramsey County prosecutor John Choi at a news conference on Friday.
“This organization said it protected children when in reality it did not”, said Mr Choi who called the church’s monitoring program for trouble priests “a sham”.
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