JOSH SHAPIRO

ATTORNEY GENERAL

 

COMMONWEALTH OF 
OFFICE OF ATTORNEY GENERAL

FLOOR

STRAWBERRY SQUARE

HARRISBURG, PA I7I20

July 25, 2018

His Holiness, Pope Francis
Apostolic Palace
00120 Vatican City

Your Holiness:

I had the pleasure of officially welcoming you to St. Charles Borromeo Seminary
in Wynnewood, as you arrived for the World Meeting of Families on September
27, 2015. It was a high honor to receive greetings and blessings from you. I am a great admirer
of you and your work?especially your commitment to fighting for the defenseless.

It was at the Seminary, shortly after our exchange, that you chose to meet with a
group of survivors of sexual abuse. According to of?cial Vatican records, in that meeting you
expressed sorrow, sadness and apologies to the victims and stated that you were ?profoundly
sorry that your innocence was violated by those who you trusted.? You went on to express
remorse that the Church failed to hear and believe them for so long but that now you, the Holy
Father, ?hears and believes you?. You pledged to ?follow the path of truth wherever it may lead.
Clergy and bishops will be held accountable when they abuse or fail to protect children.? I was
moved by your words, your compassion and your commitment.

Sadly, some of the clergy leading the church in have failed to heed
your words. A comprehensive investigation by the Of?ce of Attorney General found Widespread
sexual abuse of children and a systemic coverup by leaders of the Catholic Church. Last month,
I planned to release the ?ndings of our investigation. As I prepared to do so, anonymous
petitioners implicated in this report went to court to stop me and silence the victims
notwithstanding the fact that the bishops in pledged publicly to not stand in the
way of the truth. Credible reports indicate that at least two leaders of the Catholic Church in
not directly challenging the release of this report in court?are behind
these efforts to silence the victims and avoid accountability.

Your Holiness, I respectfully request that you direct church leaders to follow the
path you charted at the Seminary in 2015 and abandon their destructive efforts to silence the
survivors. Instead, please call on them to ?follow the path of truth? you laid out and permit the
healing process to begin. I thank you for your consideration and concern.

All the best,

m?m

JOSH SHAPIRO

HARRISBURG. PA I7IEO

{7 7) 787-3391