Leaked Emails Show New Orleans Saints’ Role in Catholic Church Sex Abuse Scandal

On the week of the NFL’s biggest game, the league is dealing with quite a controversy.

Previously hidden emails were just leaked that connect the New Orleans Saints with a sexual abuse scandal involving the Archdiocese of New Orleans. The emails date back to the late 2010s, per The New York Post.

If you’re wondering how these two entities are even connected, the Saints owner has ties to the archbishop. And if you’re curious as to why now this unknown person leaked it, the Super Bowl is in New Orleans. This ensures the most eyes possible will be seeing this report.

The emails that were released show the involvement that both President Dennis Lauscha and the team’s communications Vice President, Greg Bessel, had in assisting the church in preparation for a major scandal. There were 276 emails released, according to NBC Sports.

Basically, those in the Saints organization were using their PR expertise to help string together talking points, review the details of the case, and utilize media connections to angle the story in the press.

With these emails now being exposed, it brings into play public scrutiny as many believe the Saints chose to protect the clergy’s reputation as opposed to being transparent and placing an emphasis on the abused. The AP shares that the two organizations “had long sought to keep out [the emails] of public view,” which is why they had remained behind closed doors for so long until someone (who remains anonymous) broke the court’s ruling and released them on the Monday of the NFL’s highly-publicized Super Bowl week.

The AP highlighted some of the most damning tidbits from the emails, which included Saints officials seeing the list of accused pedophiles, the team’s president crafting a list of questions to help prepare Archbishop Gregory Aymond for questioning, and the team’s communications director serving as a “fly-on-the-wall” to be a liaison between the church and local media.

The NFL has yet to comment since the news came out on Monday morning, but the league’s media day as part of the Super Bowl is on Tuesday. That means Commissioner Roger Goodall will be at the podium. He’ll most certainly have to comment on the situation, so expect to hear more about all of this as the week progresses.