“Crimen sollicitationis, a forty-year-old document of the former Holy Office (now, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), issued March 16, 1962, is being portrayed by some in and outside the

“Crimen sollicitationis, a forty-year-old document of the former Holy Office (now, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), issued March 16, 1962, is being portrayed by some in and outside the media as a “smoking gun” allegedly proving that there was a “ground plan” for “covering up” the crime of sexual abuse of minors by clerics. The essential point in response to those making this claim is that they are taking the document entirely out of context and therefore distorting it completely.” USCCB