the group advances plans to consecrate new bishops without papal mandate Photo: FSSPX

After seven years, Rhode Island report finds a past it cannot prosecute and a present it cannot condemn

The Rhode Island investigation thus occupies an uneasy space between revelation and closure. It contributes to the historical record of abuse within the Catholic Church in the United States, reaffirming patterns already documented elsewhere: a concentration of cases in the mid-20th century, followed by a sharp decline as awareness, reporting mechanisms and safeguarding protocols evolved