CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Attorney General Kwame Raoul released a statement expressing "surprise and dismay" at comments made by Cardinal Blase Cupich earlier this week after Raoul's office disclosed a report revealing names and information of 451 Catholic clerics, who abused nearly 2,000 children in Illinois since 1950.
Cupich said he was unaware of names included in the Attorney General’s report. He also said said the Archdiocese of Chicago has “disclosed all accusations” since 2002.
“I am surprised and dismayed by the cardinal’s claim in the media that he and the Archdiocese of Chicago ‘had never heard of’ the priests and religious brothers listed in the group of 125 substantiated child sex abusers named in the report my office issued this week," Raoul said in his statement.
"The cardinal’s statements, including that he needs information on how our investigators substantiated the claims, are particularly perplexing because many of those 125 names – 62 in fact – came directly from an archdiocese spreadsheet entitled, ‘Religious Order Clerics With a Substantiated Allegation of Sexual Abuse of Minors Who Served within the Archdiocese of Chicago."
Raoul further stated that the archdiocese itself confirmed to his investigators that 62 of the 125 priests and religious brothers in question were substantiated child sex abusers who ministered in the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Raoul said the archdiocese should immediately add at least those 62 names to its online list of substantiated child sex abusers.
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