NEW YORK (NY)
Independent
August 16, 2018
By Chris Riotta
The Vatican has expressed ‘shame and sorrow’ after a report detailed decades of abuse in the Catholic Church
The Vatican has expressed “shame and sorrow” in its first response to a groundbreaking US Grand Jury report detailing decades of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
The report accuses over 300 “predator” priests throughout Pennsylvania of abusing nearly 1,000 children — and the Church of conducting a systematic cover-up. However, the actual number of total abuses in those dioceses since 1947 may be far higher than the reported figure. “We believe that the real number of children whose records were lost or who were afraid ever to come forward is in the thousands,” the grand jury noted in its lengthy report.
In the Vatican’s response, Pope Francis said he understands how “these crimes can shake the faith and spirit of believers,” vowing to “root out this tragic horror.”
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