NEW YORK — The price for failing to rein in predatory clergy keeps rising for the U.S. Roman Catholic Church.

The church has paid more than $2.6 billion in settlements and related expenses since 1950, according to an annual report released yesterday by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The costs to dioceses and religious orders dropped in 2008 by 29 percent, to about $463 million. But 2007 was an unusually high year, when the Archdiocese of Los Angeles began paying its $660 million settlement to about 500 people. It was the largest deal by a U.S. diocese.

"The overall costs are still very high," said Mary Gautier of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University. She compiles the statistics on claims and expenses each year.

New allegations continue to pour in, seven years after the abuse scandal erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston. The crisis put an unrelenting national and international spotlight on the problem and inspired victims to come forward by the hundreds.

"It's proof that victims come forward only when they're able," said David Clohessy, national director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.

The number of claims rose last year by 16 percent to 803. As in previous years, nearly all the new cases were brought by adults who said they were abused as children decades ago. Dioceses and religious orders said 98 of the new allegations could not be proven or were deemed false.

Most of the accused are dead, missing or already out of public ministry or the priesthood.

The statistics are part of an annual review of child safety in U.S. dioceses and religious orders that is mandated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The evaluation is among the reforms that the bishops adopted in 2002, at the height of the abuse crisis. The plan includes background checks for employees and volunteers, training children to identify abusive behavior by adults and a discipline policy for offenders that removes them from any public church work.

This year's audit found nearly all participating dioceses compliant with the child protection policy.