The Court of Public Opinion Replaces the Tribunal of Christ: Maryland’s Grand Jury Secrecy and the Neo-Church’s Culture of Concealment
The National Catholic Register (NCRegister) portal reports that on April 27, 2026, the Maryland Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors may not disclose the names of individuals who allegedly concealed or failed to report sexual abuse within the Archdiocese of Baltimore. These “uncharged individuals” — not formally accused of crimes — were identified in a grand jury report, but the court held that grand jury secrecy protects them from exposure to the “court of public opinion.” The Archdiocese of Baltimore filed for bankruptcy in September 2023 under the weight of claims arising from the Maryland Child Victims Act, and its insurer, Hartford Insurance Group, recently proposed a $100 million settlement. Archbishop William Lori attended court-ordered “listening sessions” with alleged victims in 2024, describing himself as “deeply moved.” The court’s decision prioritizes the reputation of uncharged persons over the public’s right to know who enabled predators — a ruling that, while cloaked in legal reasoning, epitomizes the conciliar sect’s decades-long institutional reflex: protect the apparatus, sacrifice the truth, and call it mercy.









