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<\/a><\/p>\nAn independent investigation has discovered that the U.S. Catholic Church has been forced to pay almost $4 billion in compensation to child abuse victims.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Over the course of the last 65 years, the Church\u2019s sex abuse scandals have cost them a staggering\u00a0$3,994,797,060.10, according to research conducted by NCR<\/a>.<\/p>\n Patheos.com<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n And that\u2019s an underestimate since we still don\u2019t know how much was spent for therapy for the victims, help for the offenders, and the creation of \u201csafe environment\u201d programs.<\/p>\n That figure is based on a three-month investigation of data, including a review of more than 7,800 articles gleaned from LexisNexis Academic and NCR databases, as well as information from BishopAccountability.org<\/a> and from reports from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.<\/p>\n Up until now, \u201cnearly $3 billion\u201d has been the most widely cited figure by media, academics and activists for the cost to the U.S. church for clergy sex abuse and its cover-up. NCR research shows that figure is too low, probably by as much as a billion dollars \u2014 and perhaps much more.<\/p>\n \u2026<\/p>\n As a way of illustrating the magnitude of the costs to the U.S. church, if that amount were divided evenly among the nation\u2019s 197 dioceses, each would receive nearly $20 million.<\/p>\n On top of that, you can consider all the money the church would have gotten had these scandals not happened at all, through lost memberships and donations. That amount has been estimated by other researchers<\/a> at more than $2.3 billion a year.<\/p>\n And yet there are still people who happily hand over their money to the Church, enroll their children in Catholic schools, and continue going back to celebrate life events like weddings and baptisms.<\/p>\n When you consider what that amount of money could have accomplished and what it ended up being used for, it\u2019s appalling anyone would look at the Church and its leadership, including Pope Francis, as figures of moral authority.<\/p>\n