Age of victims and composition of perpetrator group also named

Study: US church paid 5 billion dollars for abuse

Washington - The USA was one of the first countries to be shaken by the abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. The crimes are traumatising for those affected for the rest of their lives. They cost the church dearly.

Published  on 17.01.2025 at 11:21  – 

Over the past two decades, the Catholic Church in the USA has paid out around five billion US dollars in connection with cases of sexual abuse. This is according to a recently published study by Georgetown University's Centre for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). According to the study, dioceses and spiritual communities have paid exactly 5,025,346,893 US dollars since 2004, for example for compensation to those affected, therapy measures for perpetrators and legal fees.

According to the report, 80 per cent of cases of abuse by clergymen occurred in the decades before 1990. Only 3 per cent occurred after the turn of the millennium. The study recorded allegations of abuse and payments from around 200 dioceses and eparchies as well as 220 religious communities and male orders. Four out of five of those affected were boys; more than half of those affected were aged between 10 and 14 at the time of the offence, a fifth were aged 9 or younger.

Hundreds of millions for prevention

According to the study, the accusations were directed at a total of 4,490 perpetrators - 95 per cent of them priests, 4 per cent men from religious orders or spiritual communities and 1 per cent deacons. 86 per cent are deceased, have been removed from their ministry or are considered missing.

In addition, church organisations have reportedly spent a total of 727,994,390 US dollars on measures to prevent abuse since 2004, four-fifths of this in the past decade alone. According to the CARA study, no other non-governmental organisation has spent such a large sum on the fight against the sexual abuse of minors. (KNA)