US EditionReport: 75 Clergy, Over 300 Victims in Rhode Island Abuse Investigation
The Rhode Island Attorney General's investigation found 75 clergy abused over 300 children since 1950 and called for reforms to end secrecy and expand legal accountability.
- On Wednesday, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha released a report identifying 75 clergy credibly accused of abusing more than 300 children, with details over 280 pages of diocesan concealment.
- Launched in July 2019, the probe reviewed more than 250,000 pages of records including a 70-year `secret archive` from the Diocese of Providence dating back to 1950.
- Investigators found diocesan leaders often moved accused priests between parishes or sent them to treatment centers instead of reporting allegations to police, and Francis Santilli remained in ministry despite multiple abuse complaints.
- The report urges major reforms, including expanded monitoring of accused clergy, stronger investigations, and statutes of limitations changes, while Neronha's office has charged four priests between 2020 and 2022, with some cases pending in court.
- Nearly 150 survivors were interviewed and more than 300 potential victims contacted, while 20 additional names were added to the Diocese of Providence's list amid a community where more than 39% identify as Catholic.
109 Articles
109 Articles
Report on clergy sexual abuse rocks heavily Catholic Rhode Island
A massive, decades-long controversy that has roiled Rhode Island’s Catholic community was stirred anew this week with the release of a 282-page report detailing years of sexual abuse by priests and cover-ups by church officials. The report — which follows a more than five-year investigation by state Attorney General Peter Neronha — found that 75 Catholic clergy molested at least 315 victims since 1950. However, investigators believe the numbers…
The pederasty scandal in the diocese of Boston, which led to the first major investigation into the systematic sexual abuse of minors within the Catholic Church of the United States, may remain small after the revelation, this Wednesday, of the silence that the diocese of Providence kept for decades, from 1950 to 2011, in which 75 priests allegedly sexually abused 300 minors. A report published by the Rhode Island prosecution has uncovered the n…
The report, prepared by the Rhode Island Prosecutor's Office, is the result of a multi-year investigation into the Catholic Diocese of Providence.
Research Discovers Decades of Sexual Abuse of Hundreds of Minors by Catholic Priests in Rhode Island
The investigation has revealed that 75 Catholic clerics have abused more than 300 victims since 1950, but authorities believe that the number of child victims and abusive priests is probably much higherDOCUMENT - Rhoe Island's Attorney General's Report on the Abuses of the Catholic Church Catholic Priests of Rhode Island abused hundreds of children for decades and were protected by bishops more concerned about the reputation of the Church than t…
Bismarck Tribune
Decades of clergy sex abuse uncovered in R.I.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Catholic priests in Rhode Island preyed on hundreds of children for decades, and were protected by bishops more concerned with the church's reputation than the victims, according to a new report on clergy sexual abuse that echoes…
Decades of clergy sex abuse uncovered in Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Catholic priests in Rhode Island preyed on hundreds of children for decades, and were protected by bishops more concerned with the church's reputation than the victims, according to a new report on clergy sexual abuse that echoes…
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