Los Angeles: A newly-released letter to then-Pope Paul VI indicates the Vatican was aware of clergy abuse in the US nearly five decades ago.
In the 1963 letter released yesterday, the head of a Roman Catholic order that oversaw treatment of paedophile priests tells the pope he recommends removing paedophile priests from active ministry.
The letter is a summary of the Rev Gerald MC Fitzgerald`s thoughts on problem priests that appears to have been requested by the pope after Fitzgerald`s 1963 visit to the
Vatican.
Fitzgerald headed the New Mexico-based Servants of the Holy Paraclete.
The letter was released in Los Angeles by attorneys for California clergy abuse victims who obtained the document during litigation.
A message left with the Paraclete was not immediately returned.
PTI
