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PDF versionVatican: Bishops should follow civil laws on abuse
Mar. 10, 2010
VATICAN CITY -- Vatican officials are concerned that the church's longstanding insistence on confidentiality in its treatment of priestly sexual abuse cases is being misinterpreted as a ban on reporting serious accusations to civil authorities.
As past episodes and accusations of abuse have come to light recently in Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, media attention has focused in part on what kind of guidance or instructions local bishops received from the Vatican on how to handle such cases.
An increasingly widespread impression -- and a mistaken one, Vatican officials say -- is that Pope Benedict XVI himself, when he headed the Vatican's doctrinal congregation, ordered bishops not to inform civil authorities about accusations of sexual abuse by priests.
The issue surfaced March 8 when Germany's justice minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, said that as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the pope had in 2001 written a directive that said serious sex abuse cases "are not supposed to be divulged outside the church."
The minister's reference was to the 2001 document, "De delictis gravioribus" ("On more serious crimes"), which gave the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith juridical control over how the church handles cases of sexual abuse of minors by priests. It was seen inside the Vatican as an important tool in making sure perpetrators were discovered and brought to justice.
But much media attention has focused on the fact that the 2001 document said such cases were covered by "pontifical secret," which meant they would be handled in strict confidentiality. Critics saw that as a way for the church to hide accusations from civil authorities.
Vatican officials said it was important for people to know that the confidentiality imposed on the church's internal handling of abuse cases does not exempt bishops or others from reporting serious facts and accusations to civil authorities. They emphasized that the Vatican document dealt with how church law treats such cases, not as a substitute for civil law, which deals with the crime separately.
"The purpose of 'pontifical secret' here was to respect the rights of the accused and of the witnesses, including the victim, to confidentiality," said one informed Vatican official. He said civil law often has similar provisions to protect confidentiality when a potential crime is under investigation.
"But this is an ecclesiastical law. It does not affect the duty to obey civil law," he added.
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The official said the Vatican has never given bishops directives against cooperation with competent civil authorities. On the contrary, he said, the Vatican expects local bishops to comply with laws that mandate reporting of sex abuse allegations.
For example, the U.S. bishops' norms on sexual abuse, which were revised and approved by the Vatican in 2002, stated clearly: "The diocese/eparchy will comply with all applicable civil laws with respect to the reporting of allegations of sexual abuse of minors to civil authorities and will cooperate in their investigation." In many cases, civil law mandates that church authorities report such allegations.
But even as the Vatican has made it clear that bishops are not above the law, it has not encouraged local bishops to act as volunteer reporting agents for the state every time an accusation of sexual abuse is made.
Cardinal Claudio Hummes, head of the Congregation for Clergy, said in a recent interview that instances of sexual abuse by priests were "criminal facts" as well as serious sins, and require cooperation with the civil justice system.
"Once the evil deed has been objectively proven, one must resolutely pursue (the case) to the very end by also turning to ordinary justice," he said.
The fact is that the POPE and
The fact is that the POPE and the previous pope sent out to the world's dioceses WRITTEN INSTRUCTIONS TO SILENCE VICTIMS, TO HIDE PEDOPHILES.
That is fact. Now is this attempt to deny and to lie about that. No credibility from this MidEvil pope Benedict XVI and the previous pope JPII.
The bishops and Vatican still obstruct justice and do no reform other than 'train' laity re abuse. It is the hierarchy not the laity who are/were guilty of the crimes. More conniving and hypocritical "spin" from the Vatican and it deceives no one who has been paying any attention to the abuses from 1930 to today.
Msgr. Georg Ratzinger is
Msgr. Georg Ratzinger is accused of child abuse and pedophilia. I can already envision the Ratzingers sharing a prison cell with Bush and Cheney!
http://www.ledevoir.com/societe/ethique-et-religion/284505/accusations-p...
I recall when three priests
I recall when three priests from Victoria Australia were found guilty by a Catholic Independant Commissioner (a Queens Counsel) for a mixture of heinous crimes and all were suspended.
Confidentiality agreements were made in some instances.
The matter was taken to Rome.
The Judicial Vicar was one of those who attended the hearing due to his brothers appearance and would not have been a silent observer.
The Congregation for Clergy over ruled the Commissioner's findings.
Cardinal Hummes has said "once the evil has been objectively proven one must resolutley pursue the case to the very end, also turning to ordinary justice"
That certainly wasn't the case there and although the Congregations ruling was finally over turned, it certainly built up a wall of tremendous distrust that continues today.
Can anyone wonder why?
The Congregation needs to make clear what truly is the rule of thumb privately and publicly.
This is so much spin. A great
This is so much spin. A great number of bishops who were around in the heydays of secrets, cover-ups and criminality are still there, still pulling strings. Our own poster-boy of cover-ups the learned Dr. Cardinal Law now is a major Vatican player, advising and consenting. Unless and until these bishops are gone the stench remains.
As usual, Vatican officials
As usual, Vatican officials are speaking with a forked tongue. Papa Ratzi is part of the cover-up and should abdicate at once and be prosecuted to the full extent of civil law!
Yes indeed, "Once the evil
Yes indeed, "Once the evil deed has been objectively proven, one must resolutely pursue (the case) to the very end by also turning to ordinary justice..." And it is clear the Vatican intends to keep the "evil deed" from ever seeing the light of day. Thus, there will be no need to pursue anything. Who are they kidding? They continue to insult the reasonable mind with their rhetoric and tripe. The whole is getting deeper, fellas. Keep digging!!
I hope that these comments
I hope that these comments from the Vatican will help to shed more light on the sexual abuse scandal throughout the world. Unfortunately, for many years the Church apparently kept secret the crimes of those priest who were committing sexual abuse. As we now know from the information that has exposed this situation many of these priest were transferred from one parish to another. Many were sent for treatment but even after their return from treatment they often continued to committe these crimes. Although the Vatican indicated that they did not prevent bishops from reporting these crimes to civil authorites, they also did not apparently encourage reporting to authorities. The only way to get to the truth about this scandal is to have an independent investigation which discovers what actually happened for the many years that this behavior was happening. The priest who did the sexual abuse have for the most part been punished, but the people in charge have not really taken the responsibility for this shameful scandal. Let us pray that the Church will expose all who were responsible for hiding this scandal from the public and that punishment be administered.
The pope sent out directives
The pope sent out directives to silence, stall victims and to move pedophile priests to another parish, and keep all secret. It is lies to claim otherwise, terrible despicable deceit on the Vatican's and pope's hierarchy part. Attempts to deny the truth will not work as the real story is well known. COVER-UP of Scandal was done on a massive, worldwide scale. Directives from Rome to hide the sex scandal. From the office of Joe Ratzinger, Congregation of Doctrine Prefect, leader. Guilty pope. Shame!!!
The Vatican may not have
The Vatican may not have issued a "printed" directive on the crime of hiding the sexual abuse of children by priests and bishops but they certainly tried in EVERY way to be anything but transparent. They are, as usual speaking out of both sides of their mouth. The hypocrisy is only one of their sins, the criminal behavior in coverup and recycling of sexual abusers from one parish to another is something for which the hierarchy should pay with prison sentences just as those who are not priests or bishops must pay. There really should be ABSOLUTELY NO DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY for Cardinals, as was the case for Boston's Cardinal Law. This man was REWARDED for his criminal behavior by the highest authorities within the Vatican. This is unacceptable and therefore, the entire issue of diplomatic immunity should be ended once and for all. They must NOT be ABOVE the law. Interestingly, Joe (Benedict) Ratzinger is at the very top of the list of men who need to answer for their crimes. The right wingers in the Church want us to show respect for this man. Give us all a big break. Tell the truth. This seems to be something the present Pope and his minions are unable to do.
The vatican can no longer be
The vatican can no longer be trusted.It is clear to this catholic that the scandal of covering up priestly sexual abuse has been the result of papal directive. The real scandal should be called papal sexual abuse.It is no longer a mystery why John Paul had to scourge himself. There can be no doubt that Cardinal Ratzinger as the Holy Office enforcer was secretly directing the cover up through the use of papal legates,nuncios,and other vatican officials who relayed instructions to bishops around the world. The bishops have always been and still are required to be obedient to papal policies. The fact that these cover ups are spread throughout the "universal" church can only be explained because they were directed from above-from the vatican. The vatican is pretending that only now are they aware of these sexual abuse cases. They are pretending that they are being transparent just as they were when the pope all abuse cases be referred to Rome pretending that they didn't know about them before.I am ashamed to call myself a catholic.
good afternoon, The Church
good afternoon,
The Church hierarchy everywhere must finally learn (i) to be highly selective in accepting individuals into any seminary, (ii) to inform the authorities promptly of any allegation of sexual abuse against any priest, (iii) not to purport to investigate the allegation but instead simply and fully to cooperate with the authorities in the resulting investigation conducted by the authorities, (iv) to place the given priest on administrative leave of absence until the investigation is concluded by the authorities without subsequent charges filed against the priest, and (v) to dismiss any member of the hierarchy who for whatever reason opted not to follow these mandates.
The same prescription obviously must apply to any other allegation of any criminal act.
I say "must" for four reasons. First, we believe in "giving unto Ceasar what is Ceasar's". Investigation of alleged crimes is strictly and exclusively withing Ceasar's domain. Second, failure to promptly report criminal allegations may lead to charges of having engaged in conduct typical of an accessory after the fact or obstruction of justice. Third, we in the US have paid over $1.5 billion dollars to enable our hierarchy to settle many of these claims, and we are exhausted. And fourth, I am confident these mandates will greatly reduce the extent of criminal behavior within the priesthood.
Incidentally, I was never abused by a priest, and I am a practicing Catholic. Thus, my concern.
take care
I am not a lawyer, but it
I am not a lawyer, but it seems to me that Ratzinger, having issued the 2001 "De delictis gravioribus" letter, maintaining secrecy about priestly sexual abuse, has participated in, if not been in charge of, the largest cover up of sexual abuse in history and is guilty of obstructing justice and/or being an accessory after the fact. Should he not be charged for these crimes by the European Court of Human Rights?
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