More than 150 members of the Catholic clergy are accused of “horrible and repeated” acts of pedophilia on at least 600 children, from the 1940s to 2002 in Maryland, the US justice revealed this Wednesday, denouncing the “complicity” of the Church .
These archdiocese priests and staff “performed repeated horrific acts against the most vulnerable children in their community, while archdiocese leaders turned a blind eye,” according to a report from the state attorney for this northeastern state.
An investigation from 2018
This document refers to the Archdiocese of Baltimore, very close to the capital Washington. It is the result of an investigation opened in 2018, as in many other states, after a shocking investigation in Pennsylvania.
Some 156 members of the Church have been identified there, suspected of acts of pedophilia with more than 600 children. But the real number of their victims “is undoubtedly much higher,” say the authorities, who recall that only a small proportion of rapes are reported.
They insist on the “complicity” of the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which “refused to take into account the allegations of sexual violence against children.”
“When it became impossible to deny,” the Church was content to transfer the people in question, to positions where they sometimes returned to working near children, according to the prosecution.
“The Archdiocese was more concerned with avoiding scandal or negative publicity than with protecting children.”
This report, although official, does not constitute an accusation.
Shock wave
In 2018, an investigation by the Pennsylvania prosecutor’s office uncovered acts of pedophilia committed by more than 300 “predatory priests” on at least 1,000 children, and covered up by the Catholic Church.
This report had caused shock in the United States, and in turn, many states had discovered thousands of other victims.
For its own investigation, the Maryland prosecutor’s office relied on hundreds of thousands of documents, as well as victim and witness testimony.
The vast majority of those involved are named, but most of them are deceased and therefore cannot be prosecuted.
After the report was released, Archbishop William Lori offered his “deepest apologies” to the victims, admitting in a statement that these “diabolical acts (had) taken place.”
He promised that this “damnable period” in the history of this archdiocese would not be “neither hidden nor forgotten.” Since the late 1990s, “radical changes” have been decided to “end this scourge,” he said.
Source: BFM TV
