Pennsylvania clergy abuse: Attorney General Shapiro fights to release grand jury report

Randy Parker | York Daily Record

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro does not intend to let his investigation into child sexual abuse in the Catholic church go unnoticed.

On Friday, Shapiro said that he would take legal action next week to allow him to release a grand jury report on allegations of such abuse.

Earlier this month, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court blocked the release of the report that details clergy sexual abuse cases in six Catholic dioceses across the state.

The Supreme Court had invited the attorney general to “lodge an objection to a continued stay” of the report’s release. In a news release Friday, Shapiro said he would do just that on Monday.

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“There are legal filings the Court must decide," he said in the news release. "In acting on Monday, we are hopeful the Court will expeditiously decide these issues and lift the stay. The people of Pennsylvania have a right to see the report, know who is attempting to block its release and why, and to hear the voices of the victims of sexual abuse within the Church.”

Judge Norman Krumenacker III, who was supervising the grand jury, said earlier this month that he would not delay the grand jury report or allow parts of it to be challenged before it was released. That ruling was appealed to the Supreme Court, resulting in the current order to block the release.