Criminal Investigation into a Church of Sexual Abuse in Pennsylvania

US justice conducts criminal investigations into sexual abuse in at least six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania. A report released this summer showed that more than three hundred state priests had supported at least a thousand children.

According to an agency assisting victims, it is the first time that a federal prosecutor investigates sexual abuse committed within the US church and the attempts of the leaders of the church to conceal these crimes, reports the Reuters news agency.

Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Scranton confirm Thursday to have been summoned and claim to cooperate in the investigation. Neither the Attorney General of Philadelphia nor the US Department of Justice want to respond. CNN reports Friday that justice is also investigating the diocese of Buffalo, New York.

Read also: Also in Pennsylvania, abuse covered abuse

Great research

A Pennsylvania grand jury issued a major report on the issue in August after nearly two years of research. The detailed report, based inter alia on documents kept by the dioceses and handwritten confessions of priests, showed that there was also a culture of abuse during the last seventy years.

However, most cases are excluded and only two priests were charged. Although abuses have been detected only on a thousand children, the actual number of victims could be several thousand.

Last week, the pope accepted the resignation of the eminent US Archbishop Donald Wuerl. His name also appeared in the research: Wuerl, as the bishop of Pittsburgh, reportedly protected priests accused of sexual abuse for nearly twenty years.