UNITED STATES
USA TODAY

August 19, 2018

The Editorial Board

Catholic Church sex abuse scandal in Pennsylvania gives Pope Francis one more chance to act: Our view

As horrifying tales of priests molesting children have swept through Catholic dioceses across the country during the past 16 years, there is one equally horrifying constant: a systematic cover-up by bishops and cardinals who hid predators, enabling them to ruin the lives of thousands more children.

Last week, the tale was told again in vivid and disturbing detail. A Pennsylvania grand jury found that 300 priests across the state had molested more than 1,000 children over seven decades. The victims included a young girl in the hospital for a tonsillectomy and five sisters, one of them just 18 months old.

The grand jury laid bare the depths to which church elders sank to hide the scandal — its report…