Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. A ...
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. A Pennsylvania grand jury says its investigation of clergy sexual abuse identified more than 1,000 child victims. The grand jury report released Tuesday says that number comes from records in six Roman Catholic dioceses. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence T. Persico reads a statement during a news conference at the St. Mark Catholic Center in Erie on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018....
Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence T. Persico reads a statement during a news conference at the St. Mark Catholic Center in Erie on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. In responding to the state Attorney General's grand jury report on sex abuses in the Catholic Diocese of Erie and five other Pennsylvanian Roman Catholic dioceses, Persico apologized to the victims and detailed steps the diocese is taking to keep abuse from occurring again. (Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News via AP)
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. A ...
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks during a news conference at the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. A Pennsylvania grand jury says its investigation of clergy sexual abuse identified more than 1,000 child victims. The grand jury report released Tuesday says that number comes from records in six Roman Catholic dioceses. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence T. Persico concludes a news conference at the St. Mark Catholic Center in Erie, Pa., on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. In respo...
Erie Catholic Bishop Lawrence T. Persico concludes a news conference at the St. Mark Catholic Center in Erie, Pa., on Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018. In responding to the state Attorney General's grand jury report on sex abuses in the Catholic Diocese of Erie and five other Pennsylvanian Roman Catholic dioceses, Persico apologized to the victims and detailed steps the diocese is taking to keep abuse from occurring again. (Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News via AP)
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Reeling from a landmark grand jury report on child sexual abuse, the leadership of Pennsylvania's Roman Catholic Church is under pressure to support a change in state law to give those victims a temporary opportunity to file lawsuits on decades-old abuse claims.
Bishops successfully fought such a change in recent years even as several other states opened such windows to let victims sue, raising the prospect of massive payouts.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro challenged the bishops to support the change immediately.
In the days since the report, the bishops have expressed sorrow about the horrific findings and said the church today deals swiftly with priests who abuse children.
But the Pennsylvania Catholic Conference, which speaks for all the state's dioceses, says the "time to discuss legislation will come later."
