Illinois: nearly 2,000 children abused by Catholic clergy over 70-year period – By Associated Press and Guardian staff (The Guardian) / May 23, 2023
Attorney general releases investigation into abuse between 1950 and 2019 and hails survivors ‘who have long suffered in silence’
An Illinois attorney general’s office investigation released on Tuesday found that 451 Catholic clergy sexually abused nearly 2,000 children in the state over a nearly 70-year period, which was more than four times the 103 individuals the church named when the state began its review in 2018.
The attorney general Kwame Raoul said at a news conference that investigators found that Catholic clergy abused 1,997 children in Illinois between 1950 and 2019.
“It is my hope that this report will shine light both on those who violated their positions of power and trust to abuse innocent children, and on the men in church leadership who covered up that abuse,” Raoul said, crediting the accusers for making the review possible.
“These perpetrators may never be held accountable in a court of law, but by naming them here, the intention is to provide a public accountability and a measure of healing to survivors who have long suffered in silence.”
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