For once, the American media might have done some good, at least according to the Rev. Robert Oliver, a lawyer for the Vatican who recently assumed the role of prosecutor on sexual abuse cases within the Holy See.

Oliver (pictured), now the Vatican’s official “Promoter of Justice,” said Tuesday that media coverage about accusations of sex abuse made it harder for officials to deny the reality of the crimes within their church. The effects of that denial are Oliver’s to deal with for the foreseeable future.

BBC:

“I think that certainly those who continued to put before us that we need to confront this problem did a service,” Father Oliver said, speaking in Rome.

“They [the media] helped to keep the energy, if you will, to keep the movement going so that we would, honestly and with transparency, and with our strength, confront what is true,” he added.

Father Oliver said the peak of reported cases was in 2004, with 800 denunciations.

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–Posted by Kasia Anderson.