Unholy Hostages: Church Sex Abuse Scandals Weren’t Just Hidden; they were used as a Tool to Blackmail Leaders
The forthcoming Rhode Island Attorney General’s report on clergy sexual abuse is once again forcing the Catholic Church to confront a devastating moral failure — decades of abuse, institutional silence, and leadership that protected itself rather than the vulnerable. But according to Lawrence Erickson, author of Vatican Coup, the abuse crisis is only the surface layer of a far more dangerous problem.
Order Vatican Coup: Blackmail and Espionage in the Catholic Church
Erickson argues that what these scandals ultimately reveal is how corruption inside the Church has become a lever for external manipulation. Abuse and cover-ups do not merely destroy lives and faith — they create compromised leaders, and compromised leaders are vulnerable to blackmail, coercion, and ideological pressure.
In Vatican Coup, Erickson traces how secrecy, moral failure, and institutional self-protection have opened the door for what Scripture describes in Ephesians 6:12 as “powers and principalities” — forces that understand how to weaponize scandal to push agendas that undermine doctrine, authority, and independence within the Church. The Rhode Island report, while focused on abuse, unintentionally exposes the mechanics of that vulnerability.
This is not a defense of the Church’s failures. Erickson is unequivocal: sexual abuse is evil, criminal, and unforgivable. But he warns that ending the conversation there misses the larger threat. When leaders are compromised, they are no longer free to govern, speak, or resist pressure. Over time, this allows bad actors — political, ideological, and financial — to influence decisions far removed from the original crimes.
Erickson is available for interviews to discuss:
• How abuse scandals evolve into tools of leverage and control
• Why institutional secrecy creates long-term geopolitical and spiritual vulnerabilities
• How blackmail operates inside hierarchical organizations
• Why reform efforts that ignore corruption dynamics will fail
• What Vatican Coup reveals about modern assaults on Church sovereignty
With the Rhode Island report renewing national attention on clergy abuse, Erickson offers a timely, uncomfortable, and necessary perspective — one that challenges audiences to confront not just what happened, but how those failures are now being exploited.
Lawrence Erickson is an author and researcher specializing in institutional corruption, religious geopolitics, and power dynamics inside global faith organizations. His work is especially relevant as the Church faces renewed scrutiny and pressure on multiple fronts.
Please let me know if you’d like to schedule an interview or receive a copy of Vatican Coup.
Vatican Coup: On Blackmail and Espionage in the Catholic Church – TrineDay
Relevant Article(s):
Clergy sex abuse report by RI attorney general complete. What it says
OPTIONAL Q&A:
- How do the Rhode Island clergy abuse findings point to a deeper problem beyond individual crimes or institutional failure?
- Why do sexual abuse scandals create unique opportunities for blackmail and coercion within hierarchical institutions like the Catholic Church?
- At what point does secrecy intended to protect the Church become a weapon used against it?
- Who benefits when Church leaders are compromised, and how are those benefits leveraged to push corrupt or ideological agendas?
- How does Vatican Coup connect modern abuse scandals to broader efforts to influence doctrine, leadership, and Church sovereignty?
- Why do reform efforts that focus solely on abuse and accountability fail to address the larger threat you describe?
- How does Ephesians 6:12 help frame what is happening inside the Church today in practical, real-world terms?
- What must change for the Church to remove itself from this cycle of scandal, leverage, and external manipulation?
ABOUT LAWRENCE ERICKSON…
A devout Catholic, Lawrence Erickson ventures into the shadowed intersection where faith, espionage, and moral compromise collide.
Vatican Coup: On Blackmail and Espionage in the Catholic Church
uncovers the forces that reshaped the Church in the twentieth century—blackmail networks, Cold War intrigue, and the infiltration of secular and foreign powers within the Vatican itself.
From the scandals of the Vatican Bank to the resignation of Benedict XVI, Erickson follows the trail of corruption that winds through intelligence agencies, organized crime, and the priesthood itself. Drawing upon rare historical accounts and contemporary revelations, he examines how moral decay and realpolitik displaced spiritual integrity, leaving a Church adrift in modernity.
This is not an attack on faith but a call to conscience—a courageous exploration of how “the smoke of Satan,” as Pope Paul VI lamented, entered the house of God.
Vatican Coup invites Catholics and skeptics alike to confront unsettling truths about power, secrecy, and the eternal struggle between good and evil inside the world’s most enduring institution.
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