roman catholic church priests molestation cases.. how much was there going on over the years

The scale of sexual abuse cases involving Roman Catholic priests is a complex and deeply troubling issue with a history that spans decades, and it is difficult to quantify with a single, definitive number. The crisis has been exposed through numerous investigations, legal cases, and public reports worldwide.

Here's a breakdown of the key findings and figures that illustrate the extent of the problem:

United States John Jay Report (2004): A study commissioned by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and compiled by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice found nearly 11,000 allegations of sexual abuse against 4,392 priests from 1950 to 2002. This represented about 4% of priests who served during that period.

Pennsylvania Grand Jury Report (2018): A grand jury in Pennsylvania found that the Catholic Church in that state failed to protect over 1,000 children from sexual assaults by more than 300 priests over a span of 70 years. The report noted that the number of victims was likely in the thousands.

Illinois Attorney General Report (2023): An investigation in Illinois reported that since 1950, there had been more than 450 accused child sex abusers in the Catholic Church and about 2,000 victims under 18.

International Reports France (2021): The Independent Commission on Sexual Abuse in the Church published a report detailing sexual abuse of more than 200,000 children by Roman Catholic clergy in France between 1950 and 2020.

Spain (2023): A public human rights investigation in Spain found that an estimated 200,000 children had been sexually abused by Catholic clergy.

Ireland: A government-commissioned report covering six decades found "endemic" sexual abuse in Catholic boys' institutions.

Broader Context Global Reach: While many of the most publicized scandals have occurred in Western countries like the U.S., Ireland, and Australia, cases have also been reported and prosecuted in numerous other nations across Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia.

Systemic Issues: A common finding across many reports is a pattern of cover-ups by church officials. Instead of reporting abusive priests to civil authorities, the hierarchy often transferred them to new parishes, where the abuse frequently continued.

Timeline: While cases have been reported as far back as the 11th century, the crisis gained widespread public attention starting in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The 2002 Boston Globe investigation, which exposed the systematic cover-up by Cardinal Bernard Law and others, was a pivotal moment that led to a global reckoning.

Compensation: The financial cost of these cases has been immense, with dioceses around the world paying out billions of dollars in settlements to victims. This has led some dioceses to file for bankruptcy.

The number of cases continues to evolve as new allegations are brought forward and as investigations in various countries are completed. The true scale of the abuse is considered to be much higher than the reported figures, as many victims never come forward.

didn't you have some other countries

You're right. Many other countries have conducted major investigations, and the findings consistently point to a widespread and systemic problem. Here are some additional examples from major reports in other nations:

Australia: The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, which concluded in 2017, found that between 1980 and 2015, over 4,444 victims had made allegations of abuse against nearly 1,900 Catholic priests, religious brothers, and other clergy. The report identified that 7% of all priests in Australia between 1950 and 2015 were accused of abuse.

Germany: A 2018 report, commissioned by the German Catholic Church, found that at least 3,677 children were sexually abused by at least 1,670 clerics between 1946 and 2014. The report's authors noted that the true number of victims was likely much higher, as many files had been destroyed or altered.

Portugal: An independent commission in 2023 estimated that at least 4,815 children were sexually abused by Catholic clergy in Portugal since 1950. The commission found that the scale of the abuse was much larger than previously reported and that the church's hierarchy often ignored victims' accounts.

These reports, and others like them, have revealed a global pattern of abuse and institutional cover-up that has resulted in immense suffering for a vast number of victims.