Prosecutors found "a disturbing institutional and systemic pattern of behavior" over the course of decades at the highest level of leadership in the archdiocese, Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said.

"The facts that we have gathered cannot be ignored, they cannot be dismissed and are, frankly, appalling," Choi told a news conference. "And, more importantly, our community cannot allow them to be repeated."

The charges against the archdiocese, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January, are the latest development in the child sexual abuse scandal involving the Catholic Church in many U.S. cities. ...