Five men who say they are the victims of clergy sexual abuse are suing the Vatican.
They want the Catholic Church to release the names and files of thousands of clergy members who have been reported to the Vatican for "credible cases of abuse." Back in 2014, the Vatican revealed it had received 3,400 such cases since 2004. Of those, almost 850 priests were defrocked and the rest were sanctioned.
In a blog post about the case, the plaintiffs' attorney said the lawsuit "focuses upon the longstanding patterns and practices by the papacy adhering to secrecy."
The announcement of the lawsuit comes after Pope Francis introduced sweeping new rules mandating all clerics and church officials report any abuse and cover-ups to church authorities.
Though, as Newsy previously reported, those clerics aren't obligated to report anything to law enforcement, and no penalties were mentioned for abuse.
