VATICAN CITY
National Catholic Reporter
Joshua J. McElwee | Jun. 10, 2015
VATICAN CITY Pope Francis has approved the outline of a new system of accountability for Catholic bishops who do not appropriately handle accusations of clergy sexual abuse, in what could be a breakthrough moment on an issue that has plagued the church globally.
Proposed by Boston’s Cardinal Sean O’Malley at the behest of the pope’s commission on clergy sexual abuse, the system gives power to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith to judge bishops “with regard to crimes of the abuse of office when connected to the abuse of minors.”
It would also see the establishment of a new office at the congregation to undertake work as a tribunal to judge such bishops.
Such a system will be a first at the Vatican, where bishops have long held near impunity with regard to their actions or inactions on clergy sexual abuse. In the Catholic church, only the pope can fire prelates — a process that, if it ever occurs, normally takes years or even decades.
Vatican spokesman Jesuit Fr. Federico Lombardi said that while that firing power ultimately remains with Francis, the pope accepts the decisions of those he puts in such tribunal offices.
“If the pope says that [this is] the judgment and the competence of the tribunal, then normally the pope accepts the judgment of the tribunal,” said Lombardi, responding to a question from NCR at a press conference Wednesday announcing the new system.
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