Phil Saviano was near death from AIDS three decades ago and thousands of dollars in debt when the Worcester Diocese tried to silence him with a settlement that would have prevented him from publicly revealing that he had been sexually abused by a priest when he was a boy.

Phil Saviano, clergy abuse victim who refused to stay silent, dies at 69 - The Boston Globe

Mr. Saviano, whose personal story and precise documentation of priests who assaulted children helped inform The Boston Globe's Pulitzer Prize-winning coverage of the clergy sexual abuse crisis, was 69 when he died Sunday at his brother's home in Douglas.