Child abuse 'involved 1,200 American priests'

Sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the United States is even more common than was initially believed, according to a new investigation.

At least 1,200 priests are believed to have been involved in abuse, which took place in almost every diocese in the country.

More than 4,000 children have been victims of abuse by priests that stretches back to the 1930s, according to the survey carried out by the New York Times and published this weekend.

About 80% of the victims were male and 1.8% of all priests ordained in the last 50 years have been accused of committing abuse.

"This has been going on for decades, probably centuries," said Richard O'Connor, a former Dominican priest who said he was raped by three priests in New York in 1940, when he was 10. "It's just that all of a sudden they got caught."

Mr O'Connor, who assisted in the investigation, said that he was one of 10 boys attacked in a South Bronx parish, but the parents of the victims were unwilling to confront the priests out of respect for the church. "In the 1940s and 1950s, when you were talking to a priest, it was like you were talking to Jesus Christ himself," he said.

The survey found that much of the sexual abuse began in the 1960s and 1970s when there were major cultural changes inside and outside the church.

Priests were encouraged to mix with parishioners, and junior priests - many of them uncertain about their own sexuality - were given the job of working with children.

At the same time many priests, who were uncomfortable with the Vatican's position on celibacy, quit, leaving a disproportionate number of maladjusted colleagues.

The church also believed that sexual activities were confessional rather than criminal matters, so allegations of abuse were never brought to the attention of the police.

The inquiry found that while priests took a vow of celibacy not to have sex with women, they were not taught that sex with boys was a breach of this vow, merely that it was unchaste and sinful.

Of those accused of abuse, 43% were accused of molesting children aged 12 and younger. Half faced more than one allegation of abuse.