Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown has accused Baltimore Catholics of covering up the sexual abuse of more than 600 children for years, NBC reports . According to his accusation, some of them "were abused for decades by numerous criminals."
The prosecutor produced a 463-page report that named several priests and described their alleged actions. According to the report, some parishes were "bases of numerous rapists."
“Time and time again, members of the church hierarchy have steadfastly refused to admit to allegations of child sexual abuse for as long as possible. <…> When denial became impossible, the church leadership removed the rapists from the parish or school, sometimes promising that they would no longer have contact with children. Documents show that the church community cared more about avoiding scandal and negative publicity than about protecting children, ”the report says.
According to the report, the sexual abuse was so common that it was not uncommon for more than one adult to attack the victim:
“Young people in some parishes have been persecuted for decades by multiple rapists, and the clergy have used the power and authority of the ministry to exploit the trust of the children and families in their care.”
The findings, which were made public after four years of investigation, demonstrated "the depraved, systemic failure of the Archdiocese to protect the most vulnerable – the children it has been assigned to protect," Brown said in a statement.