The role of the New Orleans Saints in helping the Catholic Church manage the fallout from a sex scandal involving “predatory Catholic priests” has been revealed in leaked team emails.
The emails, which were obtained by the Associated Press, suggest that the team was at the forefront of damage limitation efforts after a list of clergymen accused of sexual abuse was published in 2018.
“What followed was a months-long, crisis-communications blitz orchestrated by the New Orleans Saints’ president and other top team officials, according to hundreds of internal emails obtained by The Associated Press,” the AP reported on Monday.
According to the publication, records show that team executives played a much more significant part in managing the fallout than they made known, with both the NFL franchise and the church going to lengths to keep their involvement under wraps.
The documents expose the efforts of the “team’s devoutly Catholic owner, who has long enjoyed a close relationship with the city’s embattled archbishop,” as well as the roles of various institutions around the city – and even a sitting federal judge – in rallying around church leaders.