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NEW YORK | The US federal justice has for the first time launched an investigation into the badual abuse committed by the Catholic clergy: it has just summoned the eight dioceses of Pennsylvania, two months after the publication of a report on decades of badual abuse within the Catholic Church of that state.
The archdiocese of Philadelphia confirmed on Thursday on its website that it has "received a subpoena from a federal grand jury".
"The archdiocese will cooperate with the US Department of Justice in this case," he added without further details.
The other dioceses in that state were not immediately available, but all, the New York Times reported, also confirmed that they had received subpoenas from the federal justice system and said they would cooperate with the investigators.
The announcement of the federal inquiry came after the Pennsylvania State Attorney's report issued a damning report to Catholic institutions in mid-August, detailing decades-long abuses involving more than 300 priests and more. 1000 children, and many attempts to conceal.
Following the publication of this report, a dozen American states, including those in New York and New Jersey, with a large Catholic population, mobilized to hold their dioceses accountable, summoning them to appear, demanding their archives, and launching calls for witnesses.
But the investigation announced Thursday is the first launched at the federal level, and victims hope that it will finally shed light on the concealment maneuvers they suspect on the part of the Catholic hierarchy.
"This is the first time we hear of a federal inquiry into Catholic dioceses and it is a monumental news for the victims," said Mike McDonnell, 50, who was badually badaulted by priests of his parish from 11 to 13 years in Pennsylvania.
"We have been waiting for this for years" because state-level investigations "only scratch the surface" and fail to understand how or through whom priests accused of badual abuse in a parish were transferred from church church, he added.
"I think that the federal survey will really point the hierarchy of each diocese, force them to answer these questions and produce the corresponding documents," he said.
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