Studies on child abuse by US priests published

More than 10,600 children said they were molested by priests since 1950 in an epidemic of child sexual abuse involving at least four per cent of US Roman Catholic priests, two studies reported yesterday.

The two studies, which were commissioned by US Catholic bishops in 2002, said the abuse peaked with the ordination class of 1970, from which one in 10 priests was eventually accused of abuse.

The abuse of children was a national health problem, said Robert Bennett of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops National Review Board.

"It's always bad when a child gets abused but when the abuser wears a collar, it's worse," said Mr Bennett, who described the scandals involving the Catholic Church as a crisis of trust and faith.

The report revealed that 10,667 children were allegedly victimised by 4,392 priests from 1950 to 2002, but said the figures depend on self-reporting by American bishops and were probably an undercount.

The Archdiocese of Boston on Thursday released local figures from the reports, saying seven per cent of its priests were accused of abuse in the last 50 years.

A group of academics at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York conducted one of the reports. It said 97 per cent of the dioceses filled out its surveys.