VATICAN
Boston.com
By Victor L. Simpson, Associated Press, 12/11/2002 13:33
VATICAN CITY (AP) From New Zealand to Newfoundland, sex abuse settlements are posing an enormous financial burden on the Roman Catholic Church, even leading the Boston Archdiocese in the United States to consider the unprecedented step of filing for bankruptcy.
But when it comes time to pay the bills, Vatican officials won’t be signing the checks.
Settlement costs this year in Ireland are estimated at $140 million, and in the United States dioceses could wind up paying hundreds of millions of dollars for new claims. Victim advocates estimate that U.S. dioceses had already spent $1 billion on settlements before this year’s crisis.
