There have been many lawsuits, criminal prosecutions, and scandals over sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy in the United States of America.
The issue of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests was first publicized in 1985 when a Louisiana priest pleaded guilty to 11 counts of molestation of boys. It was again brought to national attention in 2002 following a series of publications by The Boston Globe.
As it became clear that there was truth to many of the allegations and that there was a pattern of cover-ups in several large dioceses across the United States, the issue became a nationwide scandal, creating a crisis for the Catholic Church in the United States. Though the sex abuse cases are not unique in comparison to other countries, the sex abuse crisis in the United States is more conspicuous due to the behavior and reaction (or lack thereof) from the clergy and the Vatican. Allegations in the United States also encouraged victims in other nations to come forward, rapidly creating a global crisis for the Church. Over many decades, priests and lay members of religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church had sexually abused children, principally boys...
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