More than 4,000 US priests have faced sexual abuse allegations since the 1950s.
The Archdiocese of Chicago will release thousands of pages of documents on Wednesday detailing sexual abuse of 30 Catholic priests, part of a settlement with victims of the Catholic Church.
The documents will be released to victimsâ„¢ attorneys, who will make them public next week as part of a years-long attempt to hold the church accountable for how it handled sex abuse.
The Archdiocese of Chicago, the third largest in the US, is accused of concealing crimes and putting priests in a position to continue molesting children.
˜˜Until there is public disclosure and transparency … there is no way people can learn about it and make sure it does not happen again,™™ said Chicago attorney Marc Pearlman, who has represented about 200 abuse victims of clergy abuse in the Chicago area. He said he has been working to get the church to release the documents since 2005.
Many of the accused priests are dead, and the documents will include only 30 of 65 priests for whom the archdiocese says it has credible allegations of abuse. The Chicago Archdiocese has paid millions of dollars to settle sexual abuse claims.
The Roman Catholic Church has been hit by numerous scandals in the US and Europe in the past few years, involving allegations of covering up the sexual abuse of children by priests to protect pedophiles and its own reputation.
More than 4,000 US priests have faced sexual abuse allegations since the 1950s, in cases involving more than 10,000 children.
Some theologians have argued that the church’s policy on celibacy fosters sexual dysfunction and abusive behavior among priests.
AHT/ARA
Source: Press TV