Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley vowed on Thursday to open an investigation to examine sex crimes committed within the Catholic Church after survivors of sexual misconduct by clergy members protested outside his office pushing for a statewide probe.
Hawley told reporters that only local law enforcement have the ability to prosecute and subpoena, but that his team would conduct an investigation and that the findings would be published in a public report.
“While my office does not have jurisdiction at the present time to prosecute any criminal acts of this nature, or again to issue subpoenas to investigate it, it would be possible to conduct a thorough and robust investigation of potential clergy abuse if the various diocese were willing to cooperate,” Hawley said, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The comments came after Hawley’s office told the Associated Press it did not have the authority to conduct an investigation. But advocates have pushed back, arguing that Hawley could take steps such as filing a civil lawsuit against the Catholic Church.
Hawley said Thursday that that the Archdiocese of St. Louis will cooperate with the investigation.
The announcement follows a report from a Pennsylvania grand jury last week, which determined that more than 1,000 children had been abused by more than 300 Catholic priests and that the church sought to conceal the abuse for years.
[Related: Pope Francis breaks silence on Pennsylvania Catholic church sex abuse scandal]
