Abuse allegations rose slightly in 2025 but remained far below 2021 levels, while settlement amounts paid during 2025 increased by 69% over the previous year, according to the U.S. bishops’ annual report.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Child and Youth Protection released the 2025 report with findings from an audit on sexual abuse allegations in the Church.
According to the report, in 2025 the Church conducted about 2.3 million background checks on clergy, employees, and volunteers. There were about 2.3 million adults and 2.8 million children and youth trained how to identify the warning signs of abuse and report those signs.
The report “stands as evidence that the Church not only continues to prevent child sexual abuse and reconcile with past victims but also ensures that audits serve as effective tools for accountability and prevention,” Archbishop Paul Coakley of Oklahoma City, president of the USCCB, said in the report.
“By the end of 2025, 100% of the 196 dioceses and eparchies had participated in at least one on-site audit, marking a historic milestone — the first time since the Charter’s inception that full participation has been achieved,” Coakley wrote.
The report, “Findings and Recommendations on the Implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People,” is the 23rd since the U.S. bishops adopted the charter in 2002 to address clergy sexual abuse of minors and establish nationwide safeguarding protocols.
Settlement amounts increase
An increase in the settlement amounts paid during 2025, which increased by 69%, accounted for the rise in costs related to allegations, the report said.
Dioceses and eparchies that responded to the survey and reported costs related to abuse allegations paid about $389.9 million between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, including payouts for allegations from previous years. Total costs for 2025 were 61% higher than $242.8 million recorded in 2024, the report said. Costs also included therapy, attorneys’ fees, and other allegation‑related expenses.
Report notes slight differences in numbers, demographics from 2024
The 2025 report covers July 1, 2024, to June 30, 2025. During that period, 1,070 allegations were reported by 973 victims of child sexual abuse involving alleged clergy offenders across 194 Catholic dioceses and eparchies.
The 2025 report showed 168 more allegations than in the previous audit year. In 2024, the report noted a drop of 406 allegations from the year before.
The allegations involve reports of abuse between an alleged victim and an alleged offender, whether the abuse occurred once or over a period of time. The abuse was alleged to have occurred primarily from the 1950s to the present.
Compared with fiscal 2024, slightly more victims who reported abuse are male. In 2025, 87% of abuse victims were male, compared with 84% in 2024.
The 2025 numbers differ from 2024 in regard to the victims’ ages when the abuse first began. There was a 7 percentage point increase in the number of victims who were 9 or younger and a 10 percentage point decrease in the victims who were between the ages of 10 and 14.
In 2025, 27% of victims reported abuse started when they were 9 or younger; 50% were between 10 and 14; 20% were between 15 to 17; and for 20% the age is unknown.
Allegations that were received as a result of lawsuits, compensation programs, and bankruptcies make up about 60% of the 2025 allegations.
Out of the 1,070 allegations, 231 allegations were made by self-disclosure while the rest were made by someone else on behalf of the victims and survivors.
The report found that 727 allegations were brought to the attention of the diocesan or eparchial representatives through an attorney, and 112 were made by spouses, relatives, or other representatives such as other dioceses or eparchies, religious orders, clergy members, or law enforcement officials.
The number of clerics accused of sexual abuse of a minor during the audit period totaled 837.
Accused clergy members were classified as priests, deacons, unknown, or other. “Unknown” refers to cases where the victim could not identify the accused, while “other” refers to clergy from another diocese whose ordination and incardination details were unavailable.
Accused priests of the audit period totaled 704. Of this total, 552 were diocesan priests, 120 belonged to a religious order, and 32 were incardinated elsewhere. There were 14 deacons accused, 12 of whom were diocesan deacons and two were religious order deacons.
The report was comprised of the independent audit by StoneBridge Business Partners, the progress report from the Secretariat for Child and Youth Protection, and the survey of allegations and costs from Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA).
Moving forward, the report noted that the USCCB’s Board and Committee on the Protection of Children and Young People will meet every year to review and make recommendations on the matter.
As the bishops recognize “that parishes and schools are on the front lines of any diocese’s or eparchy’s Charter compliance efforts,” the bishops also “strongly recommend that dioceses/eparchies conduct regular audits of their parishes and schools.”
“I hope and pray that, through collective efforts, we remain vigilant and committed to the work needed to prevent the evil of child sexual abuse — not only in the Church but in society. May our ‘Promise to Protect and Pledge to Heal’ reach all God’s children,” Coakley wrote.
