Francisco introduced several legislative reforms to the document promulgated in 2019 after evaluating the experience in these almost four years.
Pope Francis promulgated an updated version of the norms that all members of the clergy must follow to prevent and counteract cases of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church, Vatican News reports.
In a ‘motu proprio’ —a decree emanating directly from the pontiff on his own initiative— published this Saturday several legislative reforms are introduced to the document entitled ‘Vos estis lux mundi’ (‘You are the light of the world‘), promulgated in 2019, after evaluate the experience in these almost four years.
The ecclesiastical law, which initially only held Church members responsible for covering up cases of sexual abuse, now also covers lay Catholic leaders who “are or have been moderators of international associations of the faithful recognized or created by the Apostolic See.” », while they have exercised their position.
On the other hand, it is reaffirmed that not only children or people who “have an imperfect use of reason” can be victims of sexual violence and harassment, but also a «adulto vulnerable». The document also includes the authority abusesuch as the one that can occur against nuns by clerics or the one that adult seminarians and novices can suffer from their superiors.
Another change concerns the protection of those who report an alleged abuse, extending it to those who were witnesses. He also calls for safeguarding “the legitimate protection of the good name and privacy of all the people involved” and the presumption of innocence of the accused during the period in which liability determinations are made.
The new regulations also specify that in dioceses and eparchies there must be a “organization or office” responsible for receiving and processing reports of abuse, that is sufficiently accessible to the community. The task of proceeding with the investigation should be the responsibility of the bishop or ordinary of the place where the reported events allegedly occurred. The change derives from the fact that Francisco detected that many dioceses, particularly in poor and vulnerable regions, are delaying in this process.
The provisions approved in 2019 came at a time of crisis for the Vatican and the Catholic hierarchy, and came in response to decades of cover-ups of adult and child abuse cases. At the time, the law was praised for establishing mechanisms to investigate complicit bishops and religious superiors, but it continues to be criticized for not requiring police to report complaints. In this sense, many victims of abuse have criticized the Vatican for its continued lack of transparency about the cases and for protecting abusers by transferring them from parish to parish instead of reporting them to the authorities, AP collects.