BOSTON (AP) — A clergy sex abuse survivor and whistleblower who played a pivotal role in exposing decades of predatory assaults by Roman Catholic priests has died. Phil Saviano was 69. Saviano’s story figured prominently in the 2015 Oscar-winning film “Spotlight” about The Boston Globe’s investigation that revealed how scores of priests molested children and got away with it because church leaders covered it up. Saviano played a central role in illuminating the scandal, which led to the resignation of Boston’s Cardinal Bernard Law and church settlements with hundreds of victims. He was also an outspoken critic of the Vatican’s reluctance to deal decisively with the fallout.
Steven Senne/AP
FILE — In this Feb. 15, 2002 file photograph, Phil Saviano, regional coordinator for the Survivors Network for those Abused by Priests, poses for a portrait in his Boston home. Saviano, a clergy sex abuse survivor and whistleblower who played a pivotal role in exposing decades of predatory assaults by Roman Catholic priests in the United States, has died, Sunday, Nov. 28, 2021. He was 69. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
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