Defrocked priest Paul Shanley, the most notorious figure in the sex scandal that rocked the Boston Archdiocese, was convicted today of raping and fondling a boy at his church during the 1980s.

The allegations of a single accuser could determine the fate of one of the highest-profile figures to go to trial in the US Roman Catholic clergy sex abuse scandal.

THE Boston Archdiocese, the epicentre of the US clergy sex abuse crisis that has shaken the Roman Catholic Church, released a report yesterday showing that 162 of its priests have been accused of molesting 815 minors since 1950.

The Boston Archdiocese has agreed to pay $85m (€76m) to settle more than 550 court claims from people who allege Roman Catholic priests abused them, a leading lawyer in the cases said.

A multi-million dollar settlement between more than 500 alleged victims of clergy sex abuse and the Boston Archdiocese appeared to be nearly completed today following two days of secret negotiations.

Boston’s chief federal prosecutor is weighing whether to bring charges against officials of the city’s Roman Catholic Archdiocese for covering up the sexual abuse of children for more than 60 years.

The Boston Roman Catholic Church paid at least $21.2m (€18.8m) to settle cases involving 149 people between 1994 and 2001, records showed.

The Boston Archdiocese has offered $55m (€48.5m) to settle more than 500 clergy sex abuse lawsuits, according to documents and sources familiar with the talks.

IT is likely that priests and others in the Boston Archdiocese sexually abused more than 1,000 people over a period of six decades, Massachusetts’ attorney general said yesterday, calling the scandal so massive it “borders on the unbelievable”.

POPE John Paul II named Bishop Sean Patrick O'Malley to lead the Boston Archdiocese yesterday, sending a recognised leader in the battle against clerical sex abuse into the epicentre of the scandal in the United States.

MORE THAN 1,200 priests in nearly every diocese in America have been accused of sexually abusing children since the Roman Catholic Church in the US became embroiled in a sex abuse scandal a year ago.

A priest who admitted molesting teenage boys while they slept was advised by a church review board in the 1990s to put an apology in his personnel file in case more victims came forward.

CARDINAL Bernard Law said he hoped his resignation would bring "healing, reconciliation and unity" to the Boston Archdiocese, after an agonising year of revelations of sexual abuse

The most senior Roman Catholic prelate in the US was today expected to meet the Pope at the Vatican amid speculation that he will resign over a priest sex abuse scandal threatening to bankrupt his archdiocese.

BELEAGUERED Boston Cardinal Bernard Law and more than five bishops have been ordered to appear before a grand jury which is investigating church officials who supervised priests accused of paedophilia.

The Boston Archdiocese released a new round of personnel records on sexually abusive priests on the same day 58 clerics submitted a letter calling for the resignation of Cardinal Bernard Law.

Boston’s embattled Cardinal Bernard Law, facing new calls for his resignation, has travelled to Rome for consultations with Vatican officials.

THE Boston Archdiocese, struggling to contend with a flurry of sex abuse lawsuits, has moved a step closer to a remedy usually associated with troubled businesses and people buried in debt: a bankruptcy filing.

Priests sexually abused teenage girls, used cocaine and other drugs, and one had an affair with a female parishioner, according to allegations contained in personnel files maintained by the Boston Archdiocese in the US.

THE Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston is reportedly preparing to file for bankruptcy rather than face a costly legal battle that could last years.

The Boston Archdiocese and alleged sex abuse victims of defrocked Catholic priest John Geoghan have reached a tentative $10m (€10.06m) settlement.