PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 30 (UPI) -- A Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling has put more than 100 civil suits over sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests on hold, with most likely to be dismissed.
The court refused earlier this week to hear an appeal of a lower court ruling that 17 suits against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia had been filed after the statute of limitations had run. The ruling also affects cases involving the dioceses of Pittsburgh, Greensburg and Altoona-Johnstown, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
David Clohessy of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests called the decision "a setback for public safety, a victory for child molesters and a relief for duplicitous bishops."
The suits involved claims of abuse dating back to the 1950s and as recent as the early 1990s, and were filed against dioceses, not abusive priests. The plaintiffs argued the church hierarchy had been engaged in a conspiracy to cover up clerical abuse and said the plaintiffs only recently learned of that.
