Vatican targets abusive clergy
Source: Agencies |
July 9, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Vatican is cracking down on priests who sexually abuse mentally impaired adults, sanctioning them with the same set of punishments meted out for clerics who rape and molest children, The Associated Press has learned.
A church source close to the Vatican said yesterday that a soon-to-be-released Vatican document on handling clerical abuse of minors under age 18 would also refer to adults with an "imperfect use of reason."
Such particularly vulnerable victims will now have their cases handled directly by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under a special set of norms that can result in a priest being quickly defrocked without a canonical trial.
The instruction from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will be the first major document to be published since the clerical abuse scandal erupted earlier this year with hundreds of new cases coming to light of priests who molested children, bishops who covered up for them and Vatican officials who turned a blind eye.
The church's internal justice system for dealing with abuse allegations has come under attack because of claims by victims that their accusations were long ignored by bishops more concerned about protecting the church and by the Congregation, which was headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger from 1981 until he was elected pope in 2005.
The bulk of the new document is expected to merely codify the ad hoc norms for dealing canonically with pedophile priests that are currently in use, making them permanent and legally binding. The 10-year statute of limitations is expected to be extended, although it already has been on a case-by-case basis since 2002. In addition, buying, selling or possessing child pornography is also expected to be listed as a canonical crime handled by the Congregation for the first time in a Vatican instruction, although the Vatican's sex crimes prosecutor, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, has written that it has been considered such for several years.
As a result, the new document is unlikely to appease abuse victims, who have called for a sweeping, "one strike and you're out" policy that goes beyond the current procedures.
But the reference to priests who abuse mentally impaired adults marks a concrete new element that drew cautious praise yesterday from the main US victims' group, the Survivors' Network for Those Abused by Priests.
"It's a small, positive, long overdue step," said SNAP chief Barbara Blaine. "Often mentally diminished adults are just as vulnerable to shrewd predators as children."
A church source close to the Vatican said yesterday that a soon-to-be-released Vatican document on handling clerical abuse of minors under age 18 would also refer to adults with an "imperfect use of reason."
Such particularly vulnerable victims will now have their cases handled directly by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under a special set of norms that can result in a priest being quickly defrocked without a canonical trial.
The instruction from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith will be the first major document to be published since the clerical abuse scandal erupted earlier this year with hundreds of new cases coming to light of priests who molested children, bishops who covered up for them and Vatican officials who turned a blind eye.
The church's internal justice system for dealing with abuse allegations has come under attack because of claims by victims that their accusations were long ignored by bishops more concerned about protecting the church and by the Congregation, which was headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger from 1981 until he was elected pope in 2005.
The bulk of the new document is expected to merely codify the ad hoc norms for dealing canonically with pedophile priests that are currently in use, making them permanent and legally binding. The 10-year statute of limitations is expected to be extended, although it already has been on a case-by-case basis since 2002. In addition, buying, selling or possessing child pornography is also expected to be listed as a canonical crime handled by the Congregation for the first time in a Vatican instruction, although the Vatican's sex crimes prosecutor, Monsignor Charles Scicluna, has written that it has been considered such for several years.
As a result, the new document is unlikely to appease abuse victims, who have called for a sweeping, "one strike and you're out" policy that goes beyond the current procedures.
But the reference to priests who abuse mentally impaired adults marks a concrete new element that drew cautious praise yesterday from the main US victims' group, the Survivors' Network for Those Abused by Priests.
"It's a small, positive, long overdue step," said SNAP chief Barbara Blaine. "Often mentally diminished adults are just as vulnerable to shrewd predators as children."
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
