VATICAN CITY
Wall Street Journal
By CHRISTOPHER EMSDEN
ROME— Pope Francis on Thursday proclaimed new laws governing conduct at the Vatican in a move that makes international agreements covering the sexual abuse of minors binding within the Holy See.
The pontiff personally signed what is known as a motu proprio—a directive whose name means “on his own impulse” in Latin and which has been used by pontiffs or Vatican administrative matters for more than 500 years—on criminal-law matters, making it clear they applied to all members of the Roman Curia.
The new rules mean the ecclesiastical city state is incorporating into its own legal system provisions from important conventions including one on the rights of children, another against cruel or degrading treatment as well as the Geneva protocols on proper conduct during wartime.
The motu proprio means that sexual acts with children are now a crime.
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