(23 May 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4436186

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chicago - 23 May 2023
1. Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul listening to reporter's question at news conference
ANNOTATION: An investigation found that 451 Catholic clergy in Illinois sexually abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950, far more than the church named earlier.
++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Kwame Raoul, Illinois Attorney General:
"It's important to not ignore the history of how these matters were handled prior to our investigation and what that calls for in terms of transparency and credibility in terms of any future investigations, and so - to me - that would call for credible people outside the church to be involved in those investigations."
++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Kwame Raoul, Illinois Attorney General:
"First of all, somebody outside of the church initiated an investigation."
++SEPARATED BY WHITE FLASH++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Kwame Raoul, Illinois Attorney General:
"There were substantial ones (abuse claims) into the 2000s, maybe 2010 or so."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++

STORYLINE:

Illinois’ attorney general has released the results of a sweeping investigation into allegations of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, saying investigators found that 451 clergy sexually abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950, which was far more than the 103 individuals the church had named when the state review began in 2018.

At a news conference Tuesday announcing his office’s findings, Attorney General Kwame Raoul credited accusers for making the review possible.

He said state investigators found that 1,997 children across the state were abused by clergy between 1950 and 2019.

The lengthy report describes Illinois church leaders as woefully slow to acknowledge the extent of the abuse.

It also accuses them of frequently dragging their feet to confront accused clergy and of failing to warn parishioners about possible abusers in their midst, sometimes even decades after allegations emerged about a clergy member.

In a joint statement issued Friday ahead of Raoul’s announcement, the state’s Catholic dioceses said the attorney general’s review led them to review their policies and make unspecified changes.

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