Catholics and lawmakers respond to Pennsylvania report on clergy sexual abuse
Pope Francis wrote, "We showed no care for the little ones; we abandoned them."
Public outcry was swift when Pennsylvania officials released a report last week detailing accusations that Catholic priests had sexually abused more than 1,000 children since the 1940s while church officials shielded the abusers.
The grand jury report, which is more than 1,300 pages long, is the result of an 18-month investigation spearheaded by state attorney general Josh Shapiro examining six of the state's eight dioceses.
The report exposes a “systematic cover-up by senior church officials in Pennsylvania and the Vatican,” Shapiro said upon its release. “There have been other reports on child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, but never on this scale.”
