In 1963 a letter written by a Catholic administrator from New Mexico tells the pope to stop giving specialized treatment to pedophile priests and recommends that abusive priests be removed from active ministry. Anthony DeMarco notes that the letter constitutes evidence that the Vatican knew or should have known about clergy abuse in the U.S. for decades. The letter uses language that suggests the depth of the churches knowledge, claiming that pedophile priests should be removed and to “not shuffle them around, not pass them from diocese to diocese.” After discovering the letter, which was kept confidential under a court order, Anthony DeMarco argued for its release to the public.