July 26, 2018 – AG Josh Shapiro asks Pope Francis for help in Pa. clergy sex abuse case
Amid a still-boiling legal battle over a secret grand jury report into alleged Catholic clergy sex abuse across Pennsylvania, Attorney General Josh Shapiro has appealed to Pope Francis to step in and persuade opponents to drop their bid to block the report’s release.
“Credible reports indicate that at least two leaders of the Catholic Church in Pennsylvania — while not directly challenging the release of this report in court — are behind these efforts to silence the victims and avoid accountability,” Shapiro wrote to the pontiff this week. “Your Holiness, I respectfully request that you direct church leaders to follow the path you charted … and abandon their destructive efforts to silence the survivors.”