WASHINGTON (DC)
Boston Globe
By Michael Kranish, Globe Staff | August 1, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Senator Rick Santorum, Republican of Pennsylvania, yesterday alleged that Senators Edward M. Kennedy and John F. Kerry of Massachusetts ''did nothing" about sexual abuse in the Catholic Church in 2002.
''They spoke nothing. They sat by and let this happen," Santorum said.
Kennedy and Kerry blasted Santorum's comments in statements issued by their aides. Santorum's comments yesterday escalated the controversy about a 2002 article he wrote saying it was ''no surprise" that the abuse scandal occurred in what he called the liberal bastion of Boston.
''Senator Santorum's partisan, hate-filled comments do a disservice to the victims of abuse," said Kerry spokeswoman April Boyd. ''He's never failed to inject politics into these deeply personal and trying issues for Catholics everywhere. He owes an apology to the families of abuse victims and to the faithful who fill the pews of Massachusetts churches every Sunday."
Kennedy spokeswoman Laura Capps said of Santorum: ''First, he blames the people of Boston, and now he blames the senators from Massachusetts. When is he going to realize that while attempting to score political points, he causes further damage to the thousands of families across the country who have suffered enough from these tragic crimes?"
The spokeswomen for Kennedy and Kerry said the senators would not go beyond their prepared statements in responding to Santorum's accusation that they ''did nothing."