My parish decided to “own” the response to the sexual abuse scandal. One year later, this is what we’ve learned.

In an Aug. 8 interview with the Chicago ABC-TV News affiliate, Father Clements called the accusation "totally unfounded." "Here I am, 87 years old, and I don't know what this is all about or anything," he said.

For decades, abusers held the power in a culture of impunity led by an archbishop who was among those accused. Anthony Sablan Apuron was convicted in a secret Vatican trial and suspended in 2016, after which restrictions he supported on the reporting of abuse were eased.

But taken in context, the correspondence penned by disgraced ex-Cardinal Theodore McCarrick to the young men he is accused of sexually abusing or harassing is a window into the way a predator grooms his prey.

The 5,000-word letter focuses on four themes: pain, gratitude, encouragement and praise.

Vatican City State will have its own reporting system in place before the end of the year for flagging suspected cases of the abuse of minors and vulnerable people and instances of cover-up or negligence in handling such cases, the Vatican said.