The New Orleans Saints played a more extensive role than previously known in local church leaders’ damage control during a crisis brought on by clergy engaged in an alleged systemic campaign of sexual abuse,

Hundreds of internal emails show executives of the New Orleans Saints were far more involved than previously known in providing public relations help to Catholic church leaders as they confronted a clergy sex abuse crisis.

Hundreds of newly disclosed emails between the New Orleans Saints and the Archdiocese of New Orleans detail the extent to which two of the team’s top executives helped to shape

A trove of emails shows the team’s leadership using its influence in New Orleans to aid the archdiocese, including writing talking points for media interviews.

New reporting from multiple major news outlets has uncovered hundreds of emails documenting the New Orleans Saints' involvement in an ongoing clergy abuse crisis within the Catholic archdiocese -- a scandal that has led archbishop Gregory Michael Aymond to fire the board and CEO of Second Harvest food bank after they balked at using the nonprofit's resources to pay for tens of millions of dollars the archdiocese owes to hundreds of child sex abuse survivors.

The New Orleans Saints are accused of playing a more extensive role in a sexual abuse scandal against Catholic priests than previously known.

Hundreds of internal emails show executives of the New Orleans Saints were far more involved than previously known in providing public relations help to Catholic church leaders as they confronted a clergy sex abuse crisis.

"It doesn’t make any sense to me why the [team] would go to these lengths to protect grown men who raped children," a state lawmaker said.

A huge new expose has revealed the extent to which the Saints worked to cover up the Catholic Church's sex abuse scandals.