Concrete measures. At the initiative of Pope Francis, the Vatican issued this Thursday directives to clergymen on the procedure to follow to investigate suspected sexual assaults on minors in the Church.
Collected in a “vade-mecum”, these documents constitute an “instrument” intended to help the local authorities of the Church “in the delicate task of conducting business properly” involving religious “when they are accused” of ill-treatment of minors, explained in a statement the Spanish cardinal Luis Ladaria Ferrer, prefect of the Congregation of the Faith.
One of the priorities of the pontificate
Pope Francis has made the fight against the scourge of sexual assault in the Catholic Church one of the priorities of his pontificate. In February 2019, he called an unprecedented summit including 114 presidents of episcopal conferences, where he committed to "give uniform directives for the Church".
In fact, the documents published Thursday do not propose new standards, nor are they intended to substitute the justice of the Catholic Church for the judicial procedure, underlines the Vatican.
Crime reporting form
In particular, a crime reporting form has been drawn up. The alerted official must inform the identity of the suspected priest, his various ministries, the date of the events and the name of the alleged victim (s), the measures taken by the ecclesiastical authority as well as, in the event of criminal proceedings, the name of the prosecutor and lawyers seized.
The Church has been in turmoil for several years with successive revelations on massive scandals of pedophile attacks committed for decades by priests or religious. The facts have often been covered by the hierarchy in several countries, notably in the United States, Chile or Germany.
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- Society
- Investigation
- Pope Francis
- Sexual assault
- Pedophilia
- Vatican