The Clerical Files: Exposing the power of holy privilege

The toxic reality of survivors having to plead their cases before the same celibate men who make, interpret and enforce Church law creates a system of silence and complicity.

On March 4, 2026, while the world was still reeling from the final disclosures of the Epstein files, another shocking document was released in the US – the Rhode Island Attorney General’s 284-page report.

This Report was a state-directed exposure of what had once been a closely guarded religious secret.

It aligned with the Epstein disclosure process, as the investigation spanned six years, beginning in 2019. It exposed 75 years of diocesan records dating back to 1950, which the Church claimed were ancient history.

The revelations in this Report make it clear that while the media often treats the Epstein Files as an unprecedented explosion of “elite” secrets, the Catholic Church has already ‘been there, done that.’

The parallels are striking, both in what was hidden and in how the information was eventually forced into the open.

In many ways, the “Epstein Files” of 2024–2026 are the secular counterpart to the Secret Archives and Legal Reports that have rocked the Church for decades.

The most direct precedent for the Epstein Files is not just the crimes themselves, which are the obvious eye-catcher, but also the meticulous documentation of these crimes, their concealment from the public eye, and the massive cover-up.

read more here: https://www.globalcatholic.com/the-clerical-files-exposing-the-power-of-holy-privilege/