Top US Cardinal Timothy Dolan ‘Paid Off Abusive Priests’
Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of Milwaukee at the time, also transferred $57 million (£37.5 million) into a trust to protect it from legal claims by sex abuse victims the documents show.
The papers were made public on Monday as part of a deal reached in federal bankruptcy court between the archdiocese and victims suing it for fraud.
Cardinal Dolan - now president of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops and the nation’s most prominent Roman Catholic official - has been accused by victims of taking part in a decades-long cover-up by the archdiocese of Milwaukee of sexual abuse perpetrated by priests.
The documents provide new details on Cardinal Dolan’s plan to pay some abusers to leave the priesthood and move the $57 million into a trust for “improved protection” as the Milwaukee archdiocese prepared to file for bankruptcy amid dozens of abuse claims. A Vatican office approved the request to move the money.
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