SAN FRANCISCO (CA)
Liberation
September 9, 2018
By Judi Yang
More and more adult survivors of childhood rape are coming out against their abusers and rapists, the very religious leaders of the Catholic Church they trusted. After four decades of inaction, state governments are finally investigating these crimes.
On Aug. 14, the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office released an 884-page report stemming from a two-year investigation from a 23-member grand jury. The report, based on investigations and victims’ testimony, presents evidence that over 300 priests and other clergy had molested, abused and raped more than 1,000 children in towns across Pennsylvania. The abusers had ties all the way up to the Vatican. The report also details a systematic cover-up of sexual predation by church officials. It says that there are “likely to be thousands more” victims.
Since this testimony has been released, the Survivor’s Network of Those Abused By Priests and the Pennsylvania state attorney general’s office have reported that their clergy abuse hotlines have been bombarded with phone calls with hundreds more stories of abuse.
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