Illinois report details scale of Catholic clergy sex abuse

Hundreds of Catholic priests and church officials in the US state of Illinois have been named in a report detailing sexual abuse by clergy.

The state's top prosecutor said 451 clergy in Illinois had sexually abused nearly 2,000 children since 1950.

The church had acknowledged only 103 individual abusers before the start of the investigation in 2018.

Nearly every survivor interviewed struggled with mental health issues after the abuse, the report said.

Several US states launched investigations into Catholic sexual abuse after a Pennsylvania grand jury report in 2018 found that 300 priests had abused more than 1,000 children over a period of 70 years.

The Archdiocese of Chicago said in a statement last week that it had implemented strict child safety rules and that it reports all sexual abuse allegations to police and prosecutors.