“The time of telling these victims to keep their truth to themselves has ended.”
Moments after the Grand Jury report on child sexual abuse at six Catholic Dioceses in Pennsyvlania was released by the State Supreme Court, Attorney General Josh Shapiro spoke out, sharing graphic stories of some of the abuse.
“Church officials routinely and purposefully described the abuse as horseplay and wrestling,” said Shapiro. “It was none of those things. It was child sexual abuse.”
The attorney general said church officials used religion to justify their actions to their young victims. “Predators in every diocese weaponized the Catholic faith and used it as a tool of their abuse,” said Shapiro.
He also took to task church officials and law enforcement for covering up the abuse for years. So much so, that the statute of limitations has expired on many of the cases.
“The cover up made it impossible to achieve justice for the victims,” said Shapiro.
Three hundred and one predator priests were identified. But much of the report released to the public has been redacted. On Tuesday, Shapiro told victims that that was not good enough.
“We will fight vigorously to remove every redaction and tell every story of abuse and expose every cover up.”