What about the children? Pennsylvania Supreme court rules that the names of 11 priests accused of sexual abuse in an explosive grand jury report will remain secret.

CNN reports:

The Pennsylvania Supreme court has ordered that the names of 11 priests accused of sexual abuse in a grand jury report remain permanently redacted. Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro had requested that the priests’ names be made public. The clergymen are among more than 300 “predator priests” accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 child victims. The names of more than 270 priests were made public when the report was released in August.

CNN continues:

In its opinion released Monday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said that the priests’ names should remain redacted “to protect their constitutional rights to reputation.”

Vice News reports:

The names of 11 priests cited in the bombshell Pennsylvania grand jury report on child sex abuse will be kept secret to protect their reputations, the state’s Supreme Court ruled Monday.

To protect their reputations? What about the children? What about the public’s right to know?

As one might imagine, survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of the predator priests, as well as many others, are outraged by the court ruling.

And while the Catholic Church has always had the ability as well as the moral responsibility to name and punish the 11 priests in question, they will do nothing. For one fact is certain: the Catholic Church will always protect and enable pedophile priests. Indeed, the Catholic Church has demonstrated time and time again that when it comes to the rape and sexual assault of children, the Catholic Church stands with the rapists.

In their opinion the Pennsylvania Supreme court said:

We acknowledge that this outcome may be unsatisfying to the public and to the victims of the abuse detailed in the report. While we understand and empathize with these perspectives, constitutional rights are of the highest order, and even alleged sexual abusers, or those abetting them, are guaranteed by our Commonwealth’s Constitution the right of due process.

Earlier this year a long awaited grand jury report found that over 300 predator priests sexually abused over a 1,000 children in Pennsylvania.

The explosive grand jury report released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court documents rampant and pervasive child sex abuse in the Catholic Church, listing more than 300 accused clergy and over a 1,000 confirmed child victims.

The report demonstrated that hundreds of “predator priests” sexually abused more than 1,000 children in Pennsylvania for decades — all the while being protected and enabled by Roman Catholic Church leaders.

In one particularly heinous episode documented in the report, a group of Catholic priests in Pittsburgh ran an extensive child porn ring where children were sexually exploited and groomed for abuse. Working together, the priests would select, target, and groom young teen boys to exploit.

Bottom line: The Pennsylvania Supreme court rules that the names of 11 priests accused of sexual abuse in an explosive grand jury report will remain secret.