After months of legal wrangling by the Catholic Church, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has released a new grand jury report that shows more than 1,000 children were sexually abused by predator priests. CNN's John Berman reports:
"The 884-page report that took two years to put together, it was written by 23 Pennsylvania grand jurors," Jean Casarez said. Church leaders protected and covered up for more than 300 priests.
"Grand jurors listened to system from dozens of witnesses and studied internal documents about the alleged abuse in Pennsylvania.
"The report states that credible allegations were found against 300 priests. Over 1,000 victims were identifiable. The report said that church words like 'horseplay' and 'wrestling' to cover up was actually about rape and sexual abuse. The report stated most of the victims were boys, but girls were also victims. Some were teens; some were younger. Shapiro said many of the priests and bishops are currently in the church and have been promoted to cardinals and bishops."
"They wanted to cover up the cover-up. They sought to do the same thing that senior church leaders in the Diocese have done for decades -- bury the sex abuse of children and cover it up forever," Josh Shapiro said.
"The report recommended changes to the law, one of them limiting the statute of limitations for the sexual abuse of children. Two priests can still be prosecuted. The report also describes a priest that quit the priesthood after being the subject of many child abuse claims. He asked for a letter of recommendation to work at Disney World, and got it. He worked there, according to this report, for 18 years," Casarez said.
The Vatican had no comment.
