(CNN) Michigan authorities have seized records from every Catholic diocese in the state as part of an investigation into possible sexual abuse by clergy, the dioceses said in separate statements released Wednesday.

The Archdiocese of Detroit, and dioceses in Gaylord, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Marquette and Saginaw said their offices were served search warrants Wednesday morning from Attorney General Bill Schuette.

Schuette's office announced last month that it would be looking into possible sexual abuse by priests in the state's seven dioceses.

CNN has reached out to Schuette's office for comment.

A post on the attorney general's website says the investigation will be "independent, thorough, transparent and prompt" and will "find out who knew what, and when." </s> DETROIT - Roman Catholic dioceses across Michigan have turned over documents in a state investigation of sexual abuse by priests.

Investigators with search warrants collected records Wednesday, about two weeks after Attorney General Bill Schuette said his office was leading a probe. The new emphasis comes after a Pennsylvania grand jury said more than 1,000 children have been molested there since the 1940s.

The Detroit Archdiocese says it “cooperated fully.” The Saginaw Diocese says investigators were at headquarters throughout the day. Schuette spokeswoman Andrea Bitely declined to comment.

A priest in the Saginaw area, the Rev. Robert DeLand, recently withdrew his no-contest plea to criminal sexual conduct after the judge disagreed with a one-year jail sentence. He’ll now go to trial. </s> DETROIT (AP) - Roman Catholic dioceses across Michigan have turned over documents in a state investigation of sexual abuse by priests.

 

 Investigators with search warrants collected records Wednesday, about two weeks after Attorney General Bill Schuette said his office was leading a probe. The new emphasis comes after a Pennsylvania grand jury said more than 1,000 children have been molested there since the 1940s.

 

 The Detroit Archdiocese says it "cooperated fully." The Saginaw Diocese says investigators were at headquarters throughout the day. Schuette spokeswoman Andrea Bitely declined to comment.

The Diocese of Lansing says it welcomes a review of the handling of abuse cases by Michigan’s Attorney General. They also said they are "confident" in their processes and will continue to assist in the Attorney General’s investigation in any manner they request.

 

 A priest in the Saginaw area, the Rev. Robert DeLand, recently withdrew his no-contest plea to criminal sexual conduct after the judge disagreed with a one-year jail sentence. He'll now go to trial. </s> GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The Michigan Attorney General's Office on Wednesday served search warrants at all seven Catholic dioceses in the state as part of a wide-ranging investigation into allegations of sexual abuse and how they were handled.

The Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids said one of those warrants was served at its diocesan office on S. Division Avenue at Wealthy Street. The Catholic Diocese of Kalamazoo also confirmed Michigan State Police and the the Attorney General's Office executed a search warrant at its offices to get documents.

Both dioceses said they were cooperating with the investigation.

State officials started the investigation in August in the wake of revelations about decades of abuse in Pennsylvania, but it didn't become public until last month. They say they are examining allegations of sexual abuse or assault dating as far back as 1950, as well as any potential cover-ups.

The Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids previously identified 14 priests who molested children since the 1950s, but none since the early 2000s. Four of them have since died, one was deported and most of the rest have either retired or are no longer allowed to present themselves as priests, according to the diocese.

The diocese said it now trains clergy, teachers and others at churches and schools to identify and report suspected abuse of minors. Bishop David Walkowiak has said there are not currently any accusations of abuse within his diocese, but officials always take reports seriously and send them to the proper authorities right away.

“We welcome them (the Attorney General's Office) to join us in our efforts of inviting survivors to come forward, a practice that has been in place since 2002," the diocese has stated.

In a Wednesday statement, the Diocese of Kalamazoo said it "stands ready to cooperate in any way that will lead to even greater protection and safeguards of all people, particularly for children and vulnerable adults."

It said reports of or questions about sexual misconduct can be made to its hotline at 1.877.802.0115.

The Attorney General's Office is encouraging any victims, their families or witnesses to report any crimes related to its investigation. Anyone who has been victimized by a member of the Catholic church can confidentially report the crime online or by calling 844.324.3374 Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. </s> More than 300 "predator priests" in six Roman Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania were protected by church leaders more interested in safeguarding the church and the abusers than tending to their victims, a scathing grand jury report to be released Tuesday claims.

Small parts of the voluminous report were made public in advance of the release via court documents.

“The main thing was not to help children, but to avoid scandal,” the report says. "Priests were raping little boys and girls and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing: They hid it all.”

The redacted report details the latest in a decades-long series of claims of abuse and protection leveled against the church across the nation and around the world. As recently as last month, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of prominent Vatican official Cardinal Theodore McCarrick amid claims of sexual abuse almost 40 years ago.

The Pennsylvania report accused church leaders in the state of discouraging victims from reporting the crimes, which span more than 60 years.

“Several diocesan administrators, including the bishops, often dissuaded victims from reporting abuse to police, pressured law enforcement to terminate or avoid an investigation or conducted their own deficient, biased investigation without reporting crimes against children to the proper authorities,” the report says.

Some of the accused have died, and statute of limitations laws prevent many others from facing criminal charges.

One priest named in the report pleaded guilty last month to charges that he sexually abused a 10-year-old boy more than 20 years ago. Another has been charged with felony child sex crimes.

The grand jury compiled the information during a two-year investigation. State Attorney General Josh Shapiro called the report an "honest and comprehensive accounting of widespread sexual abuse" in the dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton that minister to more than 1.7 million Catholics.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month ordered release of the document but named a county judge to negotiate how much would be withheld from public view. Some current and former priests who deny the allegations fought to have their names redacted.

The Erie Diocese last week released a list of more than 60 people "credibly accused" of actions that the diocese said disqualified them from working with children. Bishop Lawrence Persico, in a letter this week preparing parishioners for the grand jury report, said it was "shocking to read the graphic details" of the abuse claims.

"The most important thing I want to do at this moment is to express my sorrow to the victims of sexual abuse that occurred within the Diocese of Erie," Persico wrote. "They have experienced cruel behavior by the very individuals who should have had the greatest interest in protecting them."

The Harrisburg Diocese earlier this month identified 71 priests and other members of the church who had been accused of child sex abuse.

"That conduct has left a legacy of pain and sorrow that is still being felt," Harrisburg Bishop Ronald Gainer wrote in a letter to the diocese."I apologize for these actions."

Gainer also announced sweeping changes to confidentiality policies and stripped from any place of honor in the diocese the names of bishops and others associated with the abuses.

Previous grand jury investigations found widespread abuse in the Philadelphia archdiocese and Altoona-Johnstown diocese.

Sexual abuse scandals have rocked the Roman Catholic Church for decades, not just in the U.S. but throughout the world. Courts and prosecutors have filed indictments and sued for damages in the ongoing efforts to hold the church accountable for the abuse crisis.

Several high-ranking clergy members, including the most senior Roman Catholic cleric in Australia, have gone to prison or been ordered to serve home detention sentences.

The scandals have also hit the church hard financially, and many dioceses have paid millions in compensation to victims. In June, the Roman Catholic Church of Rochester divulged that it had paid $1.6 million to at least 20 children who had been sexually abused by 24 priests since 1950.

Eighteen U.S. dioceses and religious orders in the U.S. have filed for bankruptcy protection during the ongoing sexual abuse crisis, according to the website BishopAccountability.org, which tracks sexual abuse cases.

A 19th, the Diocese of St. Cloud in Minnesota, announced plans in February to file for bankruptcy protection.The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis said in late May that it has agreed to pay a $210 million settlement to 450 victims of clergy sexual abuse, one of the largest payouts to date in the U.S. over the scandal. </s> WASHINGTON — Florida's attorney general said Thursday she is launching an investigation of potential sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic church, making Florida at least the 13th state with an ongoing statewide probe of the church.

"Any priest that would exploit a position of power and trust to abuse a child is a disgrace to the church and a threat to society," said Attorney General Pam Bondi in a statement.

The Attorney General's Office will coordinate its probe with local prosecutors and review records from all seven of Florida's Catholic dioceses. It is also launching a tip line for victims.

During a press conference Thursday, Bondi said her office will be issuing subpoenas to the dioceses "immediately." Bishops in Florida have pledged cooperation with the investigation, Bondi said.

She called on victims across the country who may have been abused in Florida to use the tip line and contact her office.

"We want to hear your story. We want to help you if you have been abused. You can stop this from happening to other children," Bondi said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

NBC News has contacted the offices of the attorney general in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, and found that at least 13 states are either currently probing allegations of sexual abuse in the church or about to launch an investigation.

In addition to Florida, authorities in Arkansas, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Vermont told NBC News they are now investigating alleged sexual abuse linked to the church.

A spokesperson for Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh, Raquel Coombs, told NBC News the office has a policy of never confirming or denying investigations. But in September, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori told clergy that Frosh will be investigating records related to the sexual abuse of children.

"It is clear that we are a church in crisis and that crisis is one of trust," Lori said in a statement announcing the investigation.

Kentucky's attorney general, Andy Beshear, is now working on the cases of individual abuse survivors, said Beshear's deputy Michael Brown. However, Kentucky lawmakers and state prosecutors are preparing legislation that would allow him to convene a grand jury.

A sweeping report by a Pennsylvania grand jury released in August showed 300 priests in the state had abused more than 1,000 children over 70 years. After its release, other states' top prosecutors told NBC News that they were opening investigations. Pennsylvania's investigation continues, according to the attorney general's office.

Fourteen state attorneys general said they cannot confirm or deny any investigations.

But several of those not actively investigating gave NBC News statements critical of the Catholic Church's handling of the issue, expressing support for the Pennsylvania report and imploring victims to seek justice.

"The Catholic Church has proven itself incapable of safeguarding the vulnerable in its flock from sexual assault by their holy leaders, and our office is very concerned about protecting vulnerable Coloradans from abuse," Colorado Attorney General Cynthia Hoffman said in a statement.

Hoffman said she has no active investigations into the Catholic Church and under state law, the attorney general's office has little leeway to independently investigate.

Colorado and Kentucky are among the states where attorneys general lack the jurisdiction to independently conduct statewide investigations, and are not allowed to convene a grand jury akin to the one that produced the Pennsylvania report. Power to call grand juries and often, to independently investigate criminal activity lies with local prosecutors in many states, not attorneys general.

'My department will find out who knew what, and when'

In New York, Attorney General Barbara Underwood subpoenaed all eight New York dioceses as part of a civil investigation in early September. On the same day, New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal announced a statewide task force to examine abuse in the Catholic Church.

Vermont prosecutors were spurred into action after BuzzFeed News published a bombshell report detailing decades of child abuse by Catholic nuns at St. Joseph's orphanage in Burlington, Vermont, according to the office of the attorney general.

Dioceses in New Mexico, where some priests named in the Pennsylvania report were sent for treatment, were sent letters by the New Mexico attorney general in early September demanding troves of church documents, including complete personnel files for dozens of clergy. Catholic dioceses have until Friday to turn over documents, according to the letters.

At least seven priests named in the Pennsylvania report have connections to Illinois, according to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. Madigan expects all six Illinois dioceses to cooperate with her probe, she said in a statement.

State investigators in Michigan revealed their investigation in late September after responding to a freedom of information request by NBC affiliate WOOD-TV. The Michigan investigation had been ongoing since August and covers all seven dioceses in Michigan, according to the WOOD-TV report.

"My department and this investigation will find out who knew what, and when," Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement. </s> Report Reveals Widespread Sexual Abuse By Over 300 Priests In Pennsylvania

A long-awaited grand jury investigation into clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania was released Tuesday in an interim, redacted form. The report detailed decades of alleged misconduct and cover-ups in six of the state's eight Roman Catholic dioceses.

The roughly 900-page report, thought to be the most comprehensive of its kind, paints a horrid portrait of activity that occurred in the dioceses of Scranton, Allentown, Harrisburg, Greensburg, Erie and Pittsburgh, implicating 300 "predator priests" statewide who committed "criminal and/or morally reprehensible conduct."

One priest in the Diocese of Harrisburg abused five sisters in a single family. Another, in the Diocese of Greensburg, impregnated a 17-year-old girl, married her, then divorced her months later.

A priest in the Diocese of Erie admitted to assaulting at least a dozen boys, yet was later thanked by the bishop for "all that you have done for God's people."

The grand jury said it reviewed a half-million pages of internal church documents and "secret archives" that were readily available to bishops. It found credible allegations by more than 1,000 victims, adding, "We believe that the real number ... is in the thousands."

The findings revealed a pattern of abuse that occurred in hundreds of parishes in 54 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties going back at least 80 years. It detailed how fellow clergy members conducted shoddy investigations into sexual abuse allegations and how bishops often sided with abusive priests.

"The pattern was abuse, deny and cover up," said Attorney General Josh Shapiro at a press conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday, who described a "systematic cover-up" and a "failure of law enforcement."

The report counted 41 "predator priests" in the Diocese of Erie, 37 in Allentown, 20 in Greensburg, 45 in Harrisburg, 99 in Pittsburgh, and 59 in Scranton.

The interim report was released just before the 2 p.m. deadline the state Supreme Court gave its appointed special master to sort out disputes regarding the redactions.

A majority of the activity described within the scathing investigation falls outside of Pennsylvania's statute of limitations for sexual crimes, and those clergy members both named and currently blacked out of the report are not expected to face criminal charges.

But the grand jury issued presentments against a priest in the Greensburg Diocese and a priest in the Erie Diocese, who it said had sexually assaulted children within the last decade.

In the wake of Shapiro's press conference, several of the diocese released statements.

"Sadly, abuse still is part of the society in which we live. We acknowledge our past failures, and we are determined to do what is necessary to protect the innocent, now and in the future," wrote Allentown Diocese bishop Alfred A. Schlert.

The grand jury made a list of recommendations, including eliminating the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse. It also called for a "civil window" law, which would give victims a two-year period to file civil charges retroactively.

"We saw these victims; they are marked for life. Many of them wind up addicted, or impaired, or dead before their time," wrote the grand jury.

In Pennsylvania, a victim of child sex abuse who turned 18 after Aug. 27, 2002, has until age 50 to file criminal charges. Those who turned 18 before that date cannot bring a criminal case. For civil charges, child victims have until their 30th birthday to file, no matter when the abuse occurred.

Advocates for victims have long pushed to amend these statutes. They want to raise the age for civil filings and to abolish limitations on criminal charges, likening sexual abuse to murder.

They've also called for "window" legislation that would give victims a brief period to file civil charges retroactively.

Facing stiff opposition from groups such as the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, pieces of legislation advancing such measures haven't found consensus.

The 40th Statewide Investigating Grand Jury was convened in 2016 in an investigation led by the Pennsylvania attorney general. Tuesday's redacted report came after months of legal battles challenging its release.

It was initially slated for public view at the end of June, but was delayed after a group of unnamed current and former clergy filed objections claiming that publishing the report would violate their due process rights.

Attorneys for the clergy said the state should not be able to name or implicate individuals without charging them with a crime or allowing them to challenge evidence and cross-examine witnesses. As is typical in grand jury proceedings, the clergy members had been invited to file a written response to the report.

In response to objections from clergy, the state Supreme Court stayed the report's release to allow more time for appeals.

Nine news outlets — including WHYY, the lead station of Keystone Crossroads — and the state attorney general's office then pushed to make the report public, even if only in a redacted form.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro called the clergy's appeals a "desperate attempt to stop the public from learning the truth about their abhorrent conduct," and said he opposes giving clergy the option to essentially rewrite the report "in accordance with their preferred view of the facts."

Norman Krumenacker III, the Cambria County judge who presided over the grand jury investigation, also disagreed with the clergy and pushed for an unredacted report to be released in full.

The Pa. Supreme Court said Krumenacker's logic was flawed. It argued that the Pa. Constitution compels the court to put a high premium on an individual's right to reputation. In a July 27 order, the high court agreed with an alternate plan proposed by the media intervenors and decided a version which redacted the names of the objectors would be released by mid-August.

Hearings to decide if the complaints by individual clergy members are valid will be held in September in Philadelphia.

The group of unnamed challengers said even a redacted version would violate grand jury secrecy rules, because it includes specific facts from the report and "would impermissibly lift the cloak of anonymity they have been afforded."

The legal battle has sparked a debate over Pennsylvania's use of grand jury proceedings, in which 23 jurors meet in private to sort through potential evidence on complicated crimes or issues of public importance.

Prosecutors say such proceedings can help develop particularly difficult cases and bring to light issues that would otherwise remain hidden. Critics say the process should not be used to identify and criticize individuals who haven't been charged with crimes.

Abuse in the Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown dioceses have been covered in previous reports. </s> Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday said reports of sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Florida has launched a statewide investigation and led to a website where people can anonymously report allegations. 



Bondi created the website - myfloridalegal.com/stopabuse - as part of an investigation into the state's seven Catholic Dioceses, which she said has been going on for several weeks.

More than 15 victims from Florida have recently come forward with allegations. Bondi said it happened after an investigation in Pennsylvania found that 1,000 children were sexually abused by Catholic priests since the 1940s.

She also encouraged victims to call the state Abuse Hotline.

"If you call in, please know that we want to help you, we want to counsel you and we want to get to the bottom of anything that could've happened on our state," she said.

Bondi said the Bishops in the Florida dioceses are all cooperating with the investigation and that she expects the office will be issuing subpoenas.

"Any priest that would exploit a position of power and trust to abuse a child is a disgrace to the church and a threat to society," Bondi said at a news conference Thursday in Tampa.

Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Rick Swearingen said his agency will work with the Office of Statewide Prosecution and State Attorneys to review records of the Catholic Church in Florida.

Bondi said the Attorney General’s office is not limiting the investigation to Catholic churches, rather they want to hear about sexual abuse from any institution and from any time period.

It's limited to any churches, any youth organizations, any school, any institutional abuse we want to know about", she said.

Under state law, victim allegations will be held confidential. The website will be monitored by five attorneys and law enforcement officers.

Victims of ongoing abuse can call 911 or the abuse hotline at 1(800) 96-ABUSE. </s> A new grand jury report says that internal documents from six Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania show that more than 300 “predator priests” have been credibly accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 child victims.

“We believe that the real number of children whose records were lost or who were afraid ever to come forward is in the thousands,” the grand jury report says.

“Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades. Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted.”

The grand jury described the church’s methods as “a playbook for concealing the truth” after FBI agents identified a series of practices they found in diocese files.

The lengthy report, released Tuesday afternoon, investigates clergy sexual abuse dating to 1947 in six dioceses: Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton.

Pennsylvania’s two other dioceses, Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown, have been the subjects of earlier grand jury reports, which found similarly damaging information about clergy and bishops in those dioceses.

“There have been other reports about child sex abuse within the Catholic Church. But never on this scale,” the grand jurors wrote in Tuesday’s report.

“For many of us, those earlier stories happened someplace else, someplace away. Now we know the truth: it happened everywhere.”

The grand jurors said that “almost every instance of abuse we found is too old to be prosecuted.” But charges have been filed against two priests, one in Erie diocese and another in Greensburg diocese, who have been accused of abusing minors.

“We learned of these abusers directly from their dioceses — which we hope is a sign that the church is finally changing its ways,” the grand jurors said. “And there may be more indictments in the future; investigation continues.”

At a news conference announcing the report’s release, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro called it the “largest, most comprehensive report into child sexual abuse within the Catholic Church ever produced in the United States.”

At times, the lengthy catalog of clergy sexual abuses in the report is difficult to read. As the grand jurors note, priests and other Catholic leaders victimized boys and girls, teens and pre-pubescent children.

Some victims were plied with alcohol and groped or molested, the report says. Others were orally, vaginally or anally raped, according to the grand jurors.

“But all of them were brushed aside, in every part of the state, by church leaders who preferred to protect the abusers and their institution above all.”

Among the more egregious cases, the grand jury reports that:
• In the Greensburg diocese, a priest impregnated a 17-year-old, forged a pastor’s signature on a marriage certificate and divorced the girl months later. According to the grand jury, the priest was allowed to stay in ministry by finding a “benevolent bishop.”
• Another priest in Greensburg groomed middle-school students for sex, according to the grand jury, by telling them that Mary had to “bite off the cord” and “lick” Jesus clean after the Nativity.
• In Harrisburg, a priest abused five sisters from the same family and collected samples of their urine, pubic hair and menstrual blood.
• Also in Harrisburg, a priest raped a 7-year-old girl who was in the hospital after her tonsils were removed, according to the report.
• In Pittsburgh, church officials said that a 15-year-old boy “pursued” and “literally seduced” a priest. A church report later acknowledged that the priest had admitted to “sado-masochistic” activities with several boys.
• In the Allentown diocese, a priest admitted sexually molesting a boy and pleaded for help, according to documents, but was left in ministry for several more years.
• Also in Allentown, a priest who had abused several boys, according to the grand jury, was given a recommendation to work at Disney World.
• In Scranton, a priest who later served prison time for abusing children was found to have been HIV-positive for years.

Tuesday’s news conference began with a short video of three victims who told how they were abused and how it changed their lives.

An 83-year-old man said he couldn’t show any affection to his wife and children as a result of the abuse he suffered. A woman said the abuse started when she was 18 months old. Another man said, “When you have the priest touching you every day, that’s a hard memory to have. The first erection that you have is at the hands of a priest.”

The victims said this was “not a vendetta against the church” and that abusers have “to be accountable in the church for what they did.”

The grand jury’s searing report comes as the Catholic Church, including Pope Francis, is struggling to contain a sexual abuse scandal rapidly consuming the church on several continents.

In Australia, a bishop has been found guilty of covering up sexual abuse. In Chile, the Pope was forced to recant his dismissal of an abuse scandal involving a prominent priest and bishops accused of covering up his crimes.

And in the United States, a prominent archbishop was removed from the powerful College of Cardinals following reports that he had molested a teenage altar boy and several others while he was rising through the church’s ranks. Meanwhile, bishops in Boston and Nebraska are investigating possible cases of sexual abuse in Catholic seminaries.

“The report of the Pennsylvania grand jury again illustrates the pain of those who have been victims of the crime of sexual abuse by individual members of our clergy, and by those who shielded abusers and so facilitated an evil that continued for years or even decades,” Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and Bishop Timothy L. Doherty, chair of the bishops’ Committee for the Protection of Children and Young People, said in a statement.

“As a body of bishops, we are shamed by and sorry for the sins and omissions by Catholic priests and Catholic bishops.”

The Vatican declined to comment on the grand jury report.

DiNardo and Doherty noted that the grand jury’s report spans 70 years, and many of the abuse accusations were made before 2002, when the bishops adopted new policies. The policies, known as the Dallas Charter, after the city in which they were adopted, have been revised in 2011 and 2018.

The charter, the bishops said, “commits us to respond promptly and compassionately to victims, report the abuse of minors, remove offenders and take ongoing action to prevent abuse.”

For weeks, many Catholics in the United States had been warily waiting for the Pennsylvania grand jury’s report, especially as bishops in the state began publicly releasing the names of accused clergy in an apparent attempt to preempt some of the report’s findings.

In a statement on Monday before the report was published, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the former Bishop of Pittsburgh who now heads the Archdiocese of Washington, said the report “will be a reminder of the grave failings that the church must acknowledge and for which it must seek forgiveness.”

“We are now in the midst of a new era where our communal bonds of trust are once again being tested by the sin of abuse.”

Court action had delayed the report’s publication. A number of individuals named in the report claimed that its findings were false or misleading, that they were denied due process of law and that its release would impair their reputations.

On July 27, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered the grand jury report to be released by 2 p.m. August 14 with redactions in sections where litigation was ongoing.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro had written to Pope Francis on July 25, requesting that the Pontiff direct church leaders to stop “efforts to silence the survivors.”

“A comprehensive investigation by the Office of Attorney General found widespread sexual abuse of children and a systematic coverup by leaders of the Catholic Church,” Shapiro said in his letter.

On August 1, the leader of one of the largest Roman Catholic dioceses in Pennsylvania released a list identifying 71 priests, deacons and seminarians accused of “substantiated” sexual misconduct over the past seven decades.

Bishop Ronald Gainer of the Harrisburg Diocese also issued an apology on behalf of the religious community.

“That conduct has left a legacy of pain and sorrow that is still being felt,” he wrote. “I apologize for these actions.”

While most men on the Harrisburg list are accused of sexually abusing children, others were investigated for inappropriate behavior, such as kissing or inappropriately communicating with a minor, Gainer wrote. Others were accused of viewing or possessing child pornography.

The list did not say how the diocese handled most of the accusations and did not give the men’s current whereabouts, though a few cases that were forwarded to civil authorities were more detailed.
Michigan authorities seize records from Catholic dioceses in the state as part of an investigation into possible sexual abuse by clergy.