The clergy sex abuse crisis has cost the US church nearly US$4billion, an investigation by the National Catholic Reporter has found.
This is 30 per cent higher than the figure commonly cited in media and by academics and activists.
And separate research shows scandal-related consequences like lost membership and diverted giving has cost the Church more than US$2.3 billion annually for 30 years.
Between 1950 and August, 2015, the church has paid out US$3,994,797,060.10, NCR found.
That figure is based on a three-month investigation of data, including a review of more than 7800 articles gleaned from LexisNexis Academic and NCR databases, as well as information from Bishop Accountability.org and from reports from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.