CWN Editor's Note: According to the new annual report released by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection, there were 2,704 new abuse allegations against Catholic clergy lodged between mid-2021 and mid-2022. These allegations involved 1,998 alleged victims.
248 allegations against diocesan clerics, and 149 allegations against religious-order clerics, have already been deemed credible; the majority of these allegations involved incidents that took place between 1965 and 1984. 84% of the credible allegations against diocesan priests, and 83% of the credible allegations against religious-order clerics, involved male victims.
There were 16 allegations involving current minors. Of the 16 current allegations, seven have been substantiated, and three were found to be unsubstantiated; 11 involved alleged female victims, one involved an alleged male victim, and four were related to child pornography.
Between mid-2021 and mid-2022, the abuse scandal cost US dioceses $157,052,143 and religious orders $44,921,552.