Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan announced that her investigation has discovered at least 500 cases of sexual abuse allegations against priests, a report from her office said Wednesday.
The 500 cases are in addition to the 185 clergy members identified by the diocese around the state as "credibly" accused. Madigan launched the investigation in August in the wake of the grand jury report in Pennsylvania that found more than 300 "predator priests" in six Roman Catholic dioceses across Pennsylvania were protected.
The new cases come from the the Archdiocese of Chicago, and the diocese of Belleville, Joliet, Peoria, Rockford and Springfield. The investigation has also reviewed thousands of pages of documents and files from each diocese.
“The preliminary stages of this investigation have already demonstrated that the Catholic Church cannot police itself,” Madigan said in the release.
The release said the results were preliminary findings, and the AG's office is still asking victims to call her Clergy Abuse Hotline at 1-888-414-7678 or send an email to clergyabuse@atg.state.il.us.
Published lists of credibly accused priests and clergy can be found here: Archdiocese of Chicago, the Diocese of Belleville, the Diocese of Joliet, the Diocese of Peoria, the Diocese of Rockford and the Diocese of Springfield.
Click here to read the full report.
