It could be a pivotal case for prosecutors in the nationwide scandal of child sex-abuse by Roman Catholic priests.

Five weeks of testimony concluded Thursday in the Philadelphia trial of a senior clergyman who allegedly chose to protect the church, instead of the children.

It’s the first time in the U.S. that a senior official with the Catholic Church has faced charges in the church’s child sexual abuse crisis.

CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano reports that Monsignor William Lynn is accused of endangering children by helping reassign priests suspected of child sex abuse to jobs where they continued to prey on boys and girls. Lynn was in charge of Philadelphia’s priests from 1992 to 2004.

Jurors have heard graphic testimony from victims recounting how priests under Lynn’s supervision sexually abused them sometimes inside churches. One witness testified he went directly to Monsignor Lynn with his complaints of abuse.

Lynne Abraham, a former Philadelphia district attorney, said: ‘This is the first time in the history of a prosecution in this country where a member of the hierarchy of the church has been put on trial in a public courtroom for covering up sex abuse.’

Abraham spent five years investigating the Philadelphia archdiocese. She found evidence church officials […]