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Pope Decrees First Global Rules for Reporting Abuse
Pope Issues First Rules for Catholic Church Worldwide to Report Sex Abuse
(about 7 hours later)
ROME — Pope Francis on Thursday introduced the Roman Catholic Church’s first worldwide law requiring officials to report and investigate clerical sex abuse and its cover-up, issues that have haunted his papacy and devastated the church he has sought to remake.
ROME — Pope Francis on Thursday issued the first law obligating officials in the Roman Catholic Church worldwide to report cases of clergy sexual abuse — and attempts to cover it up — to their superiors. The decree was Francis’ long-anticipated concrete response to address a crisis that has devastated the church and clouded his legacy.
The new norms, delivered in a Motu Proprio, or law decreed by the pope himself, come into force on June 1 and are experimental, in that they will be re-evaluated after a three-year trial period.
Vatican officials said the pope was trying to enshrine accountability for bishops into church law. Until now, responses to accusations of sexual abuse have differed widely from country to country, and even from diocese to diocese. In some countries where church officials have denied the existence of abuse, there have often been no procedures at all.
The law, titled “Vos estis lux mundi,” or “You are the light of the world,” obligates bishops or other church officials to report any credible accusation of abuse to their superiors.
The new law does not universally require church officials to report abuse accusations to the police and prosecutors, a decision that was immediately criticized by abuse survivors and their advocates. Vatican officials have argued that a global requirement to report to civil authorities would, in some places, result in victims being ostracized or priests being persecuted. However, the new rules say that church officials should not interfere with investigations by civil authorities.
Vatican officials and supporters of Francis said that in giving all local churches rules on how to report misbehavior, he was in effect writing accountability for bishops into church law. Until now, reporting and investigation practices have differed widely from country to country, or even diocese to diocese.
Significant measures in the new law say that accusers and whistle-blowers are to be protected from retribution; qualified laypeople can assist church officials in their investigations; and initial investigations of abuse cases must be completed within 90 days, speeding up the current process drastically.
The law relates to the sexual abuse of minors under the age of 18, of vulnerable adults who are physically or mentally disabled and of people who are taken advantage of because they find themselves in positions in which they cannot exercise their full autonomy. It also extends to the creation, possession or use of child pornography.
Francis’ decree gives church dioceses a year to establish offices and procedures to facilitate the reporting of abuse and to safeguard the privacy and reputation of the abused.
If those crimes are covered up by bishops or other church officials, or if those officials “intended to interfere with or avoid civil investigations or canonical investigations,” Francis writes, then they will also be subject to investigation.
“The crimes of sexual abuse offend Our Lord, cause physical, psychological and spiritual damage to the victims and harm the community of the faithful,” Francis said in the law’s introduction. “It is good that procedures be universally adopted to prevent and combat these crimes that betray the trust of the faithful.”
The church’s failure to hold bishops and senior clerics accountable for covering up sexual abuse has fueled enormous frustration and backlash inside and outside the church.
The law is the Vatican’s most comprehensive response to a scandal that has dogged the church through more than three decades and three papacies. Scrutiny of the church has increased in the last year as some of its top prelates, including cardinals in the United States and Australia, have been publicly disgraced as abusers. As attorneys general across the United States have opened investigations into the church, many American bishops have released lists of priests accused of sexual abuse, going back decades.
Francis acknowledged that damage in the new law.
The law is the result of a landmark meeting in the Vatican that Francis convened with global church leaders in February, during the scandal’s resurgence, to educate them about a scourge that many of them had denied, played down or seemed to misunderstand.
To ensure that clerical abuses “in all their forms, never happen again, a continuous and profound conversion of hearts is needed, attested by concrete and effective actions that involve everyone in the Church,” Francis wrote. “Therefore, it is good that procedures be universally adopted to prevent and combat these crimes that betray the trust of the faithful,” he added.
“No one in leadership is above the law,” said Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, a leading church authority on responding to sex abuse cases. “There is no immunity.”
Victims of abuse and their advocates are likely to be underwhelmed by the new norms, which do not address the church trials or penalties for abuse and its cover-up, and instead focus on reporting procedures. For the frustrated faithful and others infuriated by church inaction in addressing abuse, the new law was a modest and long-overdue application of common sense.
With his decree, Francis has tried to settle the longstanding controversy over how to investigate bishops accused of abuse or cover-ups. The decree empowers archbishops who preside over geographic regions to handle accusations against bishops in their areas.
But on Thursday, the church’s top investigator of sex crimes, Archbishop Charles Scicluna of Malta, said at a Vatican news conference that the new law represented a significant step forward. Supporters of Francis said that the law faced much opposition within the Vatican, where many either remain unconvinced that abuse is a widespread problem or believe that it has already been solved.
The leaders of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops had proposed a different structure last year, in which panels including lay experts would examine accusations against bishops. But in a surprise move, the Vatican stopped the American bishops from voting on that proposal at their meeting in Baltimore last November.
Archbishop Scicluna said that the new universal law enforced a degree of accountability by obligating the reporting of abuse, including the misconduct of church leaders, and that it provided paths of reporting to make sure the complaints got through to the pope or to the relevant church authorities.
While some victims’ advocates tentatively welcomed the new law as a substantive step forward, they criticized its failure to establish clear penalties for abusers and bishops complicit in cover-ups. Prior church law introduced by Francis said that any bishop negligent in handling clerical sexual abuse could be removed from office, but victims’ advocates wanted to make removal a requirement.
“No one in leadership is above the law, ”Archbishop Scicluna said, adding, “There is no immunity.”
“It’s not nearly enough,” said Anne Barrett Doyle, a co-director of BishopAccountability.org, a victims advocacy group, though she added that the law, if enforced, represented some progress.
Archbishop Scicluna said that decades of experience had shown a “misplaced interest in protecting the institution,” while the new law established “disclosure as the main policy of the church.”
The law pertains to the sexual abuse not just of minors, but also of people considered “vulnerable” because they are physically or mentally disabled or because their situation leaves them feeling powerless to stop the abuse. It also applies to clergy who create, possess or use child pornography.
The law does not require reporting to law enforcement authorities — as many critics, especially in the United States, have demanded — though it allows national bishops’ conferences to enact such policies. Archbishop Scicluna said that “it would be a good thing” for people to go to the police.
The new policies, laid out in a document titled “You are the light of the world,” come into force on June 1 and will be re-evaluated after three years.
Church officials have argued that a universal requirement to do so was unthinkable, because in some parts of the world, reporting child sexual abuse — particularly same-sex abuse — would result in priests being killed.
The church’s failure to hold bishops and senior clerics accountable for covering up sexual abuse has fueled enormous frustration and backlash inside and outside the church. Victims’ advocates say the church can no longer be trusted to police itself, which is exactly what the new law demands.
Archbishop Scicluna said that the universal law had to factor in the vast array of cultures represented in more than 200 countries.
“This new law leaves it up to the bishop to report it to civil authorities — he does not have to,” said Peter Isely, an abuse survivor and the leader of Ending Clergy Abuse, an advocacy group for survivors of clerical child abuse. “Hasn’t that also been the problem? How does this change anything?”
“It can’t be too strict,” he said. “Because otherwise it will be inoperative.”
But the Rev. Hans Zollner, a member of the Vatican’s child-protection commission, said it was important that the law doesn’t rely on the good will or moral responsibility of church leaders to report abuse or protect accusers.
Soon after he was elected in 2013, Francis suggested that he would remedy the erosion of trust caused by the abuse scandals, but change has been slow. Instead, Francis has occasionally stumbled, saying at times that he believed bishops over victims, pulling the plug on a new church body intended to hold bishops accountable and failing to take decisive action.
“If you have a law, you bind people automatically,” he said. “And there are no other considerations possible.”
Many victims of sexual abuse have said that they consider his talk empty. Their anger boiled over last year, amid grand jury reports and investigations into widespread clerical abuse in the United States, where one of the country’s top cardinals, Theodore E. McCarrick, was ultimately kicked out of the priesthood by Francis for his abuse. Scandals also flared up in Chile and in Australia, where Cardinal George Pell, a former close adviser of Francis and top Vatican official, was sentenced in March to six years in prison for sexual abuse.
Soon after Francis was elected in 2013, the pope suggested that he would remedy the erosion of trust caused by the abuse scandals, but change has been slow. Instead, he has said at times that he believed bishops over victims, and pulled the plug on a new church body intended to hold bishops accountable.
Enemies of Francis within the church, who think his inclusive approach is damaging, have seized on the abuse crisis as a cudgel, at one point demanding the pope’s resignation for his covering up of Mr. McCarrick’s actions and those of other abusive clerics. That allegation has not been proved.
Many survivors of sexual abuse have said that they consider his talk empty. Their anger boiled over last year, amid grand jury reports and investigations into widespread clerical abuse in the United States, where one of the country’s top cardinals, Theodore E. McCarrick, was ultimately kicked out of the priesthood by Francis for his abuse. Scandals also flared up in Chile and in Australia, where Cardinal George Pell, a former close adviser of Francis and top Vatican official, was sentenced in March to six years in prison for sexual abuse.
In response to the pressure, Francis this year convened a landmark meeting in the Vatican with global church leaders to educate them about a widespread phenomenon that many of them still denied, played down or seemed to misunderstand.
Enemies of Francis within the church who consider his inclusive approach damaging have seized on the abuse crisis as a cudgel, at one point demanding his resignation for covering up the actions of Mr. McCarrick and other abusive clerics. That accusation has not been proved.
The Vatican press office said the law announced on Thursday was the product of reflection during and after the February meeting, and represented “a further commitment of the church in this area.”
Supporters of Francis, including his chief experts on tackling sexual abuse, said that unless the pope had cooperation from the bishops, the law risked going unheeded, eroding his authority and leaving the scourge of abuse unaddressed.
Supporters of Francis, including his chief experts on tackling sexual abuse, expressed belief that, unless the pope had cooperation from the bishops, the law risked going unheeded, eroding his authority and leaving the scourge of abuse unaddressed.
Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, the president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, praised the new law for empowering bishops’ conferences to impose tougher measures. He called the law “a blessing that will empower the church everywhere to bring predators to justice, no matter what rank they hold in the church.”
“I desire that this commitment be implemented in a fully ecclesial manner,” Francis wrote in the law, “so that it may express the communion that keeps us united, in mutual listening and open to the contributions of those who care deeply about this process of conversion.”
The law allows archbishops to include experts in the field to aid in investigations. In certain cases, a church leader can delegate an investigation to a lay person. Any prelate who feels that there is a conflict of interest must recuse himself and refer the investigation to the relevant Vatican department.
Victims of child abuse and their advocates, many of whom sought the automatic defrocking of offending clerics and the prelates who covered up for them, said that they found the outcome of the February meeting in the Vatican deeply disappointing.
The temporary new law gives church dioceses a year to establish offices and procedures to facilitate the reporting of abuse and to safeguard the privacy and reputation of the abused.
Under the regulations, priests and other church officials with knowledge of a credible accusation of abuse are required to “promptly” report it to their superiors. The local archbishop or prelate will be in charge of the investigation, and a fund can be created to finance it.
Advocates of having the top cleric in a region lead an investigation argue that it will enable the church to better investigate bishops and hold their own accountable.
The law allows archbishops to include experts in the field — or “qualified persons” in the law’s parlance — to aid in investigations. In certain cases a church leader could even delegate an investigation to a lay person. If a prelate feels that there is a conflict of interest, he must recuse himself and kick the investigation up to the relevant Vatican department.
The investigator should, according to the law, request “information from individuals and institutions, including civil institutions, that are able to provide useful elements for the investigation.”
And Francis makes it clear that in no way should the church interfere with civil authorities.
“These norms apply without prejudice to the rights and obligations established in each place by state laws,” he writes, “particularly those concerning any reporting obligations to the competent civil authorities.”
Critics have worried that without a single department dedicated to abuse cases, the Vatican’s infamous bureaucracy will impede effective responses.
But Francis makes it clear there can be no effort to silence the alleged victims.
“An obligation to keep silent may not be imposed on any person with regard to the contents of his or her report,” he writes, though he makes it clear that “the person under investigation enjoys the presumption of innocence.”
Archbishop Scicluna said in a brief interview on Thursday that when it came to the entire equation of solving abuse, the law related to the first parts of reporting and accusations.
For now, the penal part of the equation “stands and there is room for further development,” he said, including “if you are guilty and you have been condemned of sexual abuse of minors, you are disqualified from ministry.”
Asked if he expected Francis to issue such a development in church law, he said, “I hope so.”
