Article Title
Has the Catholic Church committed the worst crime in U.S. history?
Link to Article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/has-the-catholic-church-committed-the-worst-crime-in-us-history/2019/03/12/1875bb84-44ee-11e9-8aab-95b8d80a1e4f_story.html?utm_term=.48122dcd474c
Source: Washington Post
Author(s): George F. Will
Date: March 13, 2019
Synopsis of / Excerpts from Article
In its official documents, the Catholic Church’s bureaucracy has a history of using euphemisms (such as “horseplay” for child rape) to camouflage the church’s “pattern of abuse” and conspiracy of silence “that goes all the way to the Vatican.”
National outrage about sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy was kindled in Boston, but it exploded into furry in Pennsylvania in August of 2018 with the release of the interim statewide grand jury report, courtesy of state Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
Nationwide, the Catholic Church continues to stonewall and cover up and to resist discovery “every step of the way.” The church challenged Shapiro’s jurisdiction and fought the release of the grand jury report.
The church’s crime wave is global — not limited to the United States, as Vatican officials once-upon-a-time asserted — nor limited to English speaking countries (like Australia, Canada, and Ireland) as they later asserted. The global tsunami of Catholic clerical crime has washed over Europe and Latin America. It will no doubt inundate Africa and Asia as well.
According to the article:
“It is highly unlikely that the abuses and conspiracies of silence about them are confined to Pennsylvania. Asked whether this might be, cumulatively, the worst crime in U.S. history, Shapiro says: perhaps, considering the power of the guilty institution, the scale and prolonged nature of the crime, and the ‘sophisticated criminal coverup.’ He speaks of charging the guilty — when possible; many predatory priests have died, and statutes of limitations shield others — “the way you would typically charge the mob.”