More of 150 Catholic clergymen sexually abused at least 600 children, from the 1940s to 2002 in the archdiocese of baltimorein the northeast of the United States, according to a report revealed this Wednesday, which accuses the Church of “complicity”.
Between the 156 alleged pedophiles include priests, deacons, teachers and seminarians who committed “horrible and repeated abuses”according to the Maryland state attorney’s report, detailing how they frequently took advantage of parental or community trust.
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“The sheer number of abusers and victims, the depravity of the abusers’ conduct, and the frequency with which known abusers were given the opportunity to continue abusing children is unbelievable,” the prosecutor’s report states, which despite being official does not constitute an indictment.
The duration and scope “were only possible thanks to the complicity of those in charge of directing the Church and protecting its faithful,” he accuses. Archdiocese leaders “repeatedly dismissed reports of abuse and showed little or no concern for the victims”he maintains, and specifies that “they did not adequately investigate the complaints and made no effort to identify other victims or corroborate the alleged abuses.”
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According to this study, “they transferred known abusers to other positions of equal authority and access to children” and focused “on ensuring at all costs that the abuse was kept hidden.” The number of victims was “probably much higher” than 600, he estimates.
The true figure “is certainly much higher”, say the authorities, who recall that only a small proportion of abuses are reported. For its investigation, the Maryland prosecutor’s office relied on hundreds of thousands of documents and testimony from victims and witnesses. The vast majority of those involved are named, but many are deceased and therefore cannot be prosecuted.
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After the publication of the report, the Baltimore Archbishop William Lori offered his “sincere apologies” to all “survivors”. It is hard to imagine “that such evil acts could have actually occurred” but “they did,” he said in a statement.
He promised that this “reprehensible period” in the history of this archdiocese would not be “hidden or forgotten” and assured that since 1993 “all complaints of abuse have been transmitted to law enforcement” so that it does not happen again.
This studio It is the result of investigations opened in 2018, as in many other states, following a shocking investigation in Pennsylvania (northeast).. That report revealed acts of pedophilia committed by more than 300 “predatory priests” against at least 1,000 children, which were covered up by the Catholic Church. The result shocked the country and many states discovered that there were thousands more victims.
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AFP
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