"US bishops hid sex abuse of hundreds of children: US court"

presstv.ir

"Two Roman Catholic bishops, at the helm of a church in the US state of Pennsylvania, have helped cover up the sexual abuse of hundreds of children, molested by some 50 priests over a span of four decades, an official report says.

According to a grand jury's 147-page document released on Tuesday, the case is particularly focused on Bishops James Hogan and Joseph Adamec, who were in charge of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown in Pennsylvania from the mid-1960s until 2011.

The report said Hogan was involved in covering up abuse allegations by transferring offending priests and Adamec, his staff at the time who succeeded him later, threatening some victims with excommunication.

Kathleen Kane, Pennsylvania Attorney General, whose office made the report public, said in a statement that their conduct endangered thousands of children and allowed child predators to abuse additional victims.

'The heinous crimes these children endured are absolutely unconscionable," said Kane. "These predators desecrated a sacred trust and preyed upon their victims in the very places where they should have felt most safe.'

"Just as troubling is the cover-up perpetrated by clergy leaders that allowed this abuse to continue for decades," Kane added. "They failed in our society's most important task of protecting our children."

The report said Adamec had created a "payout chart" to help guide how much victims would receive from the church in return for their sexual services..

Based on the chart, between $10,000 and $25,000 would be paid to victims fondled over their clothes, between $15,000 and $40,000 to those fondled under their clothes or subjected to masturbation, from $25,000 to $75,000 to those subjected to forced oral sex, and between $50,000 and $175,000 to those subjected to forced sodomy or intercourse."