By Liz Navratil

The Philadelphia Inquirer

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Vatican officials knew of efforts to cover up sexual abuse by priests in Pennsylvania, Attorney General Josh Shapiro said Tuesday morning during appearances on two national news shows.

“We have evidence that the Vatican had knowledge of the cover-up,” Shapiro said during an appearance on NBC’s “Today” show. He said later in the interview that he “can’t speak specifically to Pope Francis.”

Shapiro’s remark appears related to a couple of dozen references to the Vatican in parts of the state grand jury report on clergy sexual abuse, along with attached responses from people criticized within the document.

Many of those mentions concerned requests from Pennsylvania church officials to the Vatican that an abusive priest be removed from the priesthood following an allegation of sexual abuse or rape. Procedurally, the pope removes a priest.

The report notes that the grand jury reviewed copies of some of those requests in the course of its two-year investigation. “Often called ‘The Acts’ of the subject priest, the summaries were often the most detailed documents within Diocesan records and contained decades of long-held secrets only disclosed in an effort finally to remove an offending priest from the priesthood,” according to the report.

It was not clear how much detail those summaries included about the dioceses’ prior responses to the allegations.

Multiple church leaders in their own responses to the report denied a cover-up. Some noted that the process for defrocking a priest is lengthy and, in some instances, bishops suspended priests from active ministry while the requests were pending. Among those who have criticized the report’s fairness or accuracy is Cardinal Donald Wuerl, currently archbishop of Washington; he had previously served as bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh.

Shapiro, during a separate interview on “CBS This Morning,” said, “I believe that statements made by bishops in Pennsylvania, by Cardinal Wuerl specifically, to deny this, does further the cover-up. It covers up the cover-up.”

The attorney general’s remarks came days after revelations that a former Vatican ambassador to the U.S. alleged in a letter that Pope Francis knew of abuse accusations against former Washington archbishop Cardinal Theodore McCarrick prior to his resignation this summer.

Shapiro’s remarks echoed some statements he made earlier this month, when a redacted version of the grand jury report was released to the public. The grand jury found that more than 1,000 children were raped or otherwise sexually abused by 301 “predator priests” over 70 years. The sweeping report covered six of the state’s eight Roman Catholic dioceses and called for changes to state law.

The state Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in September over whether the full report should be released to the public. A group of current and former clergy members asked the high court to block the release of portions pertaining to them, arguing that those sections are inaccurate or unfairly tarnish their reputations, which are protected under the state Constitution.