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AFP
A Catholic church in the United States
The publication by the Vatican of a report on a former American cardinal accused of sexual crimes unleashed the ire of the victims against the Catholic Church in the United States, which it accused of not assuming its responsibilities until now.
The Holy See report says: “35 years of impunity benefited the former Archbishop of Washington, Theodore McCarrick Benn, as the first complaint made by a member of the church to its president was dismissed last year when he was 88 years old.”
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“From my perspective as a victim, this is disgusting,” said Mark Rosie, who was elected to the Pennsylvania National Assembly and was raped by a priest before his teens.
After a long-lasting cover-up, the American Catholic Church faces public suspicion that has continued for nearly twenty years that it witnessed and kept it a secret sexual abuse.
“The transparency initiative launched by Pope Francis is appreciated … but it seems to me that the report only accuses the dead.”
In 2002, the American Catholic Church adopted a charter that provides for systematic reporting to the judiciary in case of suspicion and abandonment of confidentiality agreements and internal sanctions. Since then, the number of reported abuse cases has decreased significantly.
This new wave of moves before the courts could raise the bill for compensation and others to more than $ 4 billion in total since the early 1980s.
Under the pretext of not having the ability to deal with the matter financially, at least 11 parishes have filed for bankruptcy in the past two years, as reported on the “Bishop Accountability” website.
According to studies conducted by the independent Pew Research Center, the number of Catholics is declining most rapidly among followers of major religions.
Source: AFP
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