AUSTRALIA
Sky News
Pope Francis has approved the creation of an internal Church tribunal empowered to punish bishops who cover up sex abuse by priests.
Under the reform, bishops suspected of protecting pedophile clerics or of failing to respond promptly to allegations of abuse could face charges of ‘abuse of episcopal office’ under canon law, the Church’s internal set of rules.
The move comes after the credibility of the Church’s efforts to address the scourge of pedophilia was called into question amid fresh cover-up allegations involving Australian cardinal George Pell.
Pell, the Vatican’s finance chief, has been accused by Peter Saunders, a British member of the Vatican’s child protection commission, of being an ‘almost sociopathic’ man who covered up abuse and tried to buy the silence of at least one victim.
Pell has threatened legal action and has been supported by the Vatican but the Briton, a survivor of abuse by a priest, has refused to apologise.
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