The archdiocese of Philadelphia has dismissed several Catholic priests for sexual aggression toward children, the church said today.
The church has "credible evidence" of abuse of some 50 children by 35 priests, spokeswoman Donna Farell said.
Some of the cases date from the 1950s.
"Several" of the priests still serving in the church "have been dismissed during the last weeks," Farell said. She declined to identify them or their transgressions.
"We will follow the letter of the law 100 per cent, but we are not going to go back and release the names of priests from years ago. We don't see any good that would come from that, for either the victim or the priest," she said.
The steps were taken as scandal rocked the Catholic church in Boston, where a defrocked priest, John Geoghan, 66, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for fondling a young boy. Geoghan is also to go on trial for rape.
Just one complaint has been brought against the Philadelphia archdiocese, in 1997, Farell said.
For years priests suspected of paedophilia were moved from parish to parish, but that practice stopped in the late 1980s as the church gained insight into the problem, she said.
The church has heard no complaint of paedophilia among its 800 Philadelphia-area priests in the last three years, she said.